YOUNG people are vulnerable. So vulnerable yet so full of limitless potential. They can easily succumb to their circumstances or they can soar to great heights. It is beyond me why anyone would seek to deny them their right to shine.

The juvenile justice system in Guyana, presently, is ludicrous and archaic. Two features that are truly astonishing to me are the age of criminal responsibility and wandering as an offence.

Currently, the age of criminal responsibility is pegged at 10 years. That’s right, somebody who should be preparing for their National Grade Six Assessment can be placed before the courts. A small child, not yet mature, can be imprisoned in a juvenile holding centre at this young age.

Detailed in the Juvenile Offenders Act, wandering is another offence children can be charged for. And a number of activities constitute ‘wandering’, but the common factor is that it involves a child being away from where they should be (e.g. at home with their family) and doing something they should not be (e.g. roaming the streets and possibly engaging in deviant/ criminal activities).

For months I have been rallying around the highly anticipated Juvenile Justice Bill. My wait finally came to an end recently when Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, tabled the bill in Parliament.

My knowledge of the bill stemmed from my preparation to tackle the Director of the Childcare and Protection Agency (CCPA), Ann Greene at the sidelines of a Ministry of Social Protection event for National Child Protection week last year. I will concede, I knew nothing of the bill until then.

After a chat with Ms. Greene however, it was evident that the local justice system- vis a vis juvenile laws- was in an archaic state and the creation of this bill was long overdue. This particular bill takes aim at the archaic laws governing juvenile offenders and seeks to modernise these, which provides some leeway for the modernisation of juvenile justice.

One particular provision that piqued my interest was the abolition of wandering as a criminal offence.

According to the United Nations Situation Analysis (2016) for Guyana, between the years 2011- 2014, 99 boys or 17 per cent of young males at the juvenile holding centre had wandering as their main alleged crime while 164 girls or 64 per cent of the young females at the same place fell into the same category.

Eschewing wandering places the responsibility of the children on the parents, rather than penalising children first.
But it doesn’t stop there. The bill calls for the repeal of the Juvenile Offenders Act and the Training Schools Act which presently govern the justice system and are comprised of these archaic laws.

As its first principle, the Juvenile Justice act advances: “The juvenile justice system is intended to further the well-being of juveniles; encourage and facilitate juveniles having a meaningful life in the community by rehabilitation, education, reintegration and proportionate and appropriate accountability to victims and society.”

Additionally, the bill proposes that no juvenile shall be subjected to imprisonment but rather sentenced to a secured residential facility or subjected to alternative sentencing such as community service, fines or restitution, to name a few.

As sociologist Edwin Sutherland posited through his theory of ‘Differential Association’, criminal behaviour is learned and it is learned through a process of communication. Thus, any juvenile imprisoned is privy to further criminal behaviour and this may have lasting psychological effects. This practically exacerbates criminal behaviour; it’s mere feeding grounds.

With these simple provisions in mind (which in no way effectively detail the magnitude of the bill), it is evident that there has been a shift from penalising juveniles to seeking to develop them.

Perhaps this is why the bill would have garnered the staunch support of Ms. Greene. Committed to her portfolio, her interests lie first with childcare and protection and this bill emphasises the same, instead of criminalisation.

These current laws are equally as ridiculous as the ‘ganja laws’ or those laws which criminalise suicide attempts. At least the tabling of the juvenile justice bill is a step in the right direction.

Ms. Greene related that she was confident that the bill would withstand scrutiny and would not garner much opposition, perhaps only as much that was needed to make the bill better in favour of the nation’s children. I’m anticipating how this plays out. Better must come.