Concerns regarding juvenile justice center on the rights of children with respect to criminal liability, procedures, and sentences.  Specifically, the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides protections for children who are alleged to have violated penal laws.  First, states parties are encouraged to implement special criminal justice systems for children, including laws, procedures, and institutions specifically tailored to children.  Second, under article 40 of the Convention, these systems are required to take into account a child’s age when determining culpability for crimes committed.¹

This last point has important ramifications, including the right to be detained separately from adults, the right to privacy in all proceedings, and the right to be imprisoned only as a last resort for the shortest appropriate time.  The creation of special juvenile systems must also include standard protections against arbitrary detainment and for fair trials that should be the hallmark of all criminal justice systems.

Because of the adoption of the Convention, many countries have begun to change their juvenile justice systems to bring them into compliance with the requirements of the convention.  This has been particularly true of Latin America, with Brazil leading the way in 1990, and Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, El Salvador, and Nicaragua following over the next few years.  Unfortunately, despite the improvements in law in some countries, many others have not followed through on their commitments under the Convention. The actual practice of law despite what is on the books, sometimes varies widely from the new requirements of their new laws.  As a result, much remains to be done to fully protect children exposed to criminal justice systems around the world.

1 “Convention on the Rights of the Child”

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