Pursued by the law: the victimisation of children who offend

Abstract

"Development work in this field has barely started. Relevant international standards and guidelines are available but remain poorly applied by many nations. Hundreds of thousands of children suffer daily as a result of outdated law, absence of children's legal advocacy services, lack of children's courts and detention centres, poorly trained and resourced policing and inadequate prevention and reintegration programmes. Overseas aid programmes must place these needs within their basket of priorities. It is not, however, simply a matter of law reform and infrastructure. Most basic of all is the urgent need to change community attitudes towards children so that they can urgently receive the social support and reintegration they need in order to enjoy their fundamental human right to live out their childhood protected by the law rather than victimised by it ..." - page 6