The Minister of Police, Nathi Mthethwa today reiterated that police will intensify the war against perpetrators of crime against children including adults who influence and abuse children to commit crime for their own criminal benefits .
“As we reflected during the 2011/12 national crime statistics, one of the shifts that we had witnessed was that although crimes against women and children had decreased, we are now seeing a trend where young children are now being targeted and abused.”
“The number of charges against children during the 2011/2012 financial year is 57 592. While the South African Police Service (SAPS) will continue to arrest those who commit crime, a greater and growing awareness among parents/guardians to look after and protect children, must be intensified within society. Any commission of crime by children is a societal challenge that requires a societal response, not just by police but all of us as a collective,” stated Minister Mthethwa.
Furthermore, SAPS instructions to police officers specifically forbid the detention of children with adults and should this happen; a departmental investigation would have to be instituted against the members responsible. Children should however only be detained when there are compelling reasons as set out in the National Instructions for Children in conflict with the law.
“Children under the age of 10 can however not be charged, as according to the provisions of the Child Justice Act, 2008, they do not have criminal capacity. Whilst the crimes they are allegedly involved in can be captured, the child cannot be charged as an offender of that crime,” added the Minister.
To improve efficiency in the capturing of such crimes, the SAPS is now developing an information system in order to accurately capture all data regarding children under 10 involved in crime. This information system has been tested for the required dimensions of information which include details of the nature of offence, any other person involved and the probation officer to whom the child is referred.
Arrangements have been made for the piloting of this information system. Once the pilot is complete and the efficacy of the system has been verified it can be rolled out nationwide in the 2013/2014 financial year. The new financial year will make it possible for funds to be available for the establishment of the new information system.
In 2009, Minister Mthethwa took a decision to re-establish the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) units, to specifically investigate heinous crimes against women, children and the elderly. To date since its re-launching this unit has trained specialised police officers and to deal with crimes such as rape.
“Some of the notable progress since the re-establishment of the FCS units is that in the cases where it involves the children under the age of eighteen, the unit has secured convictions that resulted in total of 10 345 years for those criminals. In the same age group, it has managed to secure 175 life sentences for these crimes,” concluded the Minister.
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