Juvenile Justice

System
(Juvenile Justice Act
2003,
 653)

Dr. Augustina Naami

SOWK 435
 Objectives

 Identify and discuss the processes involved in the
Juvenile Justice System
 Arrest
 Bail
 Remand
 Trail
 Corrections
 Who is a Juvenile?

 Section 1 (Article 1) of the Juvenile Justice Act 653
(2003), defines a juvenile as a person under the 18
years who is in conflict with the law
 Note that the age of consent for criminal offence is
12 years
 Minor offenders are juveniles between 12-14 years of
age
 Senior offenders are juvenile between 15-16 years of
age
 Young offender are offenders between 18-21 years of
age
Arrest

 Detain and Bail
 Juvenile are detained
in police custody upon
arrest
 Ideally, bail should be granted within 48 hours
of arrest
 Bailing terms and conditions are spelt out in the
bail bond
 The juvenile must accept the bail conditions
before the bail is given
 Must have surety just like in the case of adults
 Remand

 What happens when a juvenile is not given a bail?
 Juvenile is giving juvenile to
parents/guardians/closed relatives or any person
willing and fit to take care of the juvenile for
remand
 Remand homes for juveniles are very few, only two:
One in Accra and other in Kumasi
 Juvenile shall not be remanded in same room as
adult
 Trial

 Trail is in camera proceedings
 Must be held in different building from that of adult
 Or must be held in different rooms where regular court
sittings take place
 Or must be held on different dates from adult court
proceedings
 The juvenile must be informed about court proceedings
in the language that they can understand
 The trial of a juvenile shall not be more than 6 months
of proceedings
 Verdict/Sentence
 Restitution

 Order offender to pay a fine, cost of damages or other
costs (medical expenses)
 Order parents/guardian to pay a fine, cost of damages or
other costs
 Probation
 Signed probation order and given a probation officer
 Must adhere to all conditions in the probation order
 Failure to adhere to probation conditions would results in
arrest and detention
 Detention
 Death sentence not to be pronounce on juvenile
 Detention

 Detention order outlines:
 Who takes the offender to the correctional center
 Name of correction centre
 Duration of correction/detention
 Duration of Detention
 3 months for juvenile under 16 years of age
 6 months for offenders above 16 years of age but
under 18
 24 months for offenders of or above 18 years
 3 years for a serious offense
 Detention

Juvenile offender under the age of 15 years
who is convicted of serious offense is
detained at the senior correctional center
A juvenile shall not be detained beyond the
date when he/she attains age 21
Incorrigible juvenile or juvenile who has bad
influence on others are transferred to adult
correctional facilities
Structure of Juvenile
Correction System

 Juvenile correctional
services

 Formal Services ordered by the court

 Community-based

 Institutional-based
 Formal community
based 
services
 Juvenile probation

 Diversion programmes
 Formal institutional
services

Detention centres or correction centres
 Training Programmes Senior Correctional Centre
 Mechanical Engineering
 Mechanical shop
 Welding
 Vulcanizing
 Carpentry
 Tailoring
 General electrical
 Shoemaking
 Blacksmithing
 Ceramics
 Teach and prepare inmates to write terminal exams
Senior Correctional Centre

 Minor/Junior, Senior
and Young
 offenders
 WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JUNIOR,
SENIOR AND YOUNG OFFENDERS?