Abstract
Children commit crimes and they are convicted daily in our courts. Once the court convicts the child as an offender, it must impose correctional measures immediately. The major rationale for handling down the child to correctional mechanisms is to rehabilitate the child offender. Thus, the Juvenile Court is obliged to maintain and strengthen family relationships, choose a least restrictive sentence which is proportionate to both offence and offender that makes a child offender change and accept his or her responsibilities towards the commission of the offence. The obligation of the juvenile court is well enshrined in international legal instruments which necessitated the introduction of the key principles to be considered in sentencing child offenders in Tanzania. The key principles introduced by the international instruments focus on: rehabilitation of the child offender; maintaining and strengthening family relationships; being least restrictive; be proportionate to the youthfulness of the child; consideration of the interest of the society; and enabling the offender to accept responsibilities over the offence committed. Based on this, the Child Act focuses more on non-custodial sentences; the key principles to consider when sentencing the child are not provided in the Act explicitly rather there presented in its Rules. The present article discusses Case Laws, Statutes provisions and international laws and the legal position in Tanzania regarding the key principles and substances to consider when sentencing a child offender. It further points out the gaps of laws and practices which normally emerge when considering proper sentence to a child offender. It is concluded that laws regarding sentencing child offenders should reflect the international instruments. The courts and other state organs should make sure their practice meets the purpose of sentencing children offenders.
Highlights
In Tanzania, a person is considered a child offender if he/she is convicted of an offence punishable under the law while is below the age of eighteen (18) years.1The Tanzanian courts have for many years advocated for a child offender to be treated differently from adults and to consider the youthfulness of the child for the best interest of the child in order to avoid sentences that might expose the child to interact with criminals.2Whatever the actual practice, sentencing principles for child offenders changed fundamentally with the adoption and domestication of international instruments
And community are core units bestowed with important roles in the development of the life of every child.18Maintaining and strengthening family relationships,is among the key principles a Court needs to consider before imposition a proper sentence on the convicted child offender
The international legal instruments require States to establish mechanisms that take into account the principles of sentencing, namely: proportionality, maintaining and strengthening family relationships, rehabilitation and reintegration of the child offender in the society, least restrictive, and consideration of other essential substances such as social inquiry report
Summary
In Tanzania, a person is considered a child offender if he/she is convicted of an offence punishable under the law while is below the age of eighteen (18) years.1The Tanzanian courts have for many years advocated for a child offender to be treated differently from adults and to consider the youthfulness of the child for the best interest of the child in order to avoid sentences that might expose the child to interact with criminals.2Whatever the actual practice, sentencing principles for child offenders changed fundamentally with the adoption and domestication of international instruments. The Rights of the Child, 1989 (CRC) provides to the child the right to non-discrimination, the best interest of the child to be a primary consideration, right to be heard, right to life, right for survival, and development.7 This means that the CRC aims at protecting a child by considering the child’s basic rights against all actions affecting the affairs of the child.This concept under the CRC draws the “principle of proportionality”,which requires the administration of juvenile justice to aim at ensuring all children are dealt with in a manner appropriate to the child’s wellbeing and proportionate to the circumstances of both the offender and the offence as it is well enshrined in the CRC.. Before the Juvenile Court makes its decision on the appropriate sentence for a convicted child, the court should consider the “principle of proportionality”, for which it must make reference to the circumstances of the offender, offence, and society.
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