IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v113y2020ics0190740919313532.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Challenges experienced by probation officers working with children in conflict with the law in the Johannesburg Metro Region (South Africa)

Author

Listed:
  • Sibisi, Muntuwenkosi
  • Warria, Ajwang'

Abstract

South African legislation has mandated new roles and responsibilities for probation officers working with children in conflict with the law. These children who engage in criminal behaviour have been used or coerced by adults and sometimes by peers. In addition, sometimes the children commit crimes out of their own agency based on rewards gained. The crimes they commit range from petty crime such as begging, vagrancy, substance use to serious offences such as murder, rape and robbery. This was a qualitative study on the experiences of probation officers working with these children. The findings reveal that the environments in which the probation officers work under are often traumatic, lack resources and are few thus impacting efficient delivery of services. In addition, the implementation of the Child Justice Act (CJA) is hampered by abuse of the system by parents/caregivers and the child offenders. In as much as South Africa has made strides in protecting children in conflict with the law, these challenges should be addressed urgently in order for the successful implementation of the legislation, for children to be better protected and ultimately for safer communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Sibisi, Muntuwenkosi & Warria, Ajwang', 2020. "Challenges experienced by probation officers working with children in conflict with the law in the Johannesburg Metro Region (South Africa)," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:113:y:2020:i:c:s0190740919313532
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104949
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740919313532
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104949?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Breetzke, Gregory Dennis, 2010. "Modeling violent crime rates: A test of social disorganization in the city of Tshwane, South Africa," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 446-452, July.
    2. O'Neill, Sue C. & Strnadová, Iva & Cumming, Therese M., 2017. "Systems barriers to community re-entry for incarcerated youths: A review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 29-36.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Case, Stephen & Hazel, Neal, 2020. "Child first, offender second – A progressive model for education in custody," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Andresen, Martin A., 2013. "Unemployment, business cycles, crime, and the Canadian provinces," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 220-227.
    3. Breetzke, G.D. & Pearson, A.L., 2015. "Socially disorganized yet safe: Understanding resilience to crime in neighborhoods in New Zealand," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 444-452.
    4. Kabeya Clement Mulamba, 2021. "A Spatial Analysis of Property Crime Rates in South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 89(3), pages 329-347, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:113:y:2020:i:c:s0190740919313532. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.