Is the Act working for children? The first year of implementation of the Child Justice Act
Abstract
The Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 mandates the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development to
report annually on the implementation of the Child Justice Act to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee
on Justice and Constitutional Development. On 1 April 2011 a year had passed since the implementation
of the Child Justice Act. This article interrogates the annual report presented to parliament on the first
year of implementation of the Act, and concludes that it is not possible to accurately assess whether the
Child Justice Act was implemented fully during the year, as the statistics provided in the annual report by
different departments are unclear and incomparable. The article also reflects those aspects of the Act that
have been implemented.