No detention for child offenders

The New Straits Times
by Masami Mustaza

KUALA LUMPUR: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will amend the Child Act 2001 to prevent children who commit minor offences from being sent to juvenile detention centres.

Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said the ministry was looking to implement a restorative justice system for juvenile offenders in line with the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Malaysia ratified in 1995.

Speaking after chairing the National Council of Advisers and Consultants for Children meeting yesterday, she said the amendments to the act were expected to be finalised by the end of the year.

Shahrizat added that children who committed minor offences -- such as stealing chickens, shoes, mobile phones, motorcycles, house-breaking or for failing to carry their identification cards with them -- should not be allowed to languish in juvenile detention centres.

"They should be given counselling or sent for rehabilitation. It doesn't benefit children when they are put under remand longer than necessary or when they are forced to be at the detention centres while waiting for their cases to end."

Child offenders should, instead, be put under a community service order programme, she added.

This would facilitate their re-integration into society and prevent them from mingling with bad hats at detention centres.

Malaysia Early Childcare and Education Council president Datuk Dr Chiam Heng Keng said the council was looking at restorative justice systems for children used in Singapore, Philippines and New Zealand before deciding on the best approach for Malaysia.

She said Singapore used a mediation system that allowed child offenders to make amends or to pay compensation for their errors.

The council, she added, had interviewed and observed child offenders at Asrama Akhlak and Sekolah Tunas Bakti detention centres as well as the police lockup.

"Many of these children are not criminals. They are ignorant or had committed offences due to circumstances. Some committed offences because they were dared by friends in the name of fun."

Dr Chiam said what these children needed was guidance so that they could contribute to society.

Lawyer Raj Preet Kaur lauded the ministry's move, saying the restorative justice system would work better for children who had committed minor crimes, especially first-time offenders.

"Juvenile detention centres are no place for most child offenders. They need more counselling."

However, this would have to be based on a case-to-case basis, for example, by looking at the extent of the offence committed, the circumstances involved and whether the child was a repeat offender, she added.

"Mediation will not work for every child, especially those who lean towards the wrong side of the law and must be punished."

Lawyer Suraj Singh. who agreed with Raj Preet, cited his client, 15, who is charged with raping a minor.

He said it was consensual sex between his client and the boy's girlfriend.

In cases such as this, the accused could be sentenced up to three years' jail and placed at the Henry Gurney School, he said.

Suraj said the Compulsory Attendance Act 1954 could order offenders to perform community service but many public prosecutors were not familiar with it and usually pressed for a deterrent sentence.

"There are learning facilities at Henry Gurney and there are inmates who had come out on top in their examinations, but it's hard for them to be accepted when they rejoin society because of negative perception.

"Pre-approved schools are also rife with disciplinary problems because the inmates don't receive attention and love from their parents while serving their sentences."

He said there should be mandatory reconciliation and counselling for children and parents with the addition of community service.