DOMINICA will soon boast skilled professionals within the juvenile justice sector who are able to execute the Child Justice Bill.
A four day risk and needs assessment workshop to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the Child Justice Bill ended here last Friday, April 29th.
The Child Justice Bill establishes a procedure for the assessment of children alleged to have committed a crime prior to appearance at an initial inquiry.
The training is supported by the OECS/USAID Juvenile Justice Reform Programme.
Magistrate, Gloria Augustus gave more details.
“We are training persons [to execute it] because it’s part of the law and if you’re going to implement the law, then there needs to be people who can do the assessment.”
The assessment to which she refers has to do with evaluating child-related cases to determine whether or not it should go further to court.
“We need to have a pool of persons who can do it and some persons will go beyond this to become master trainers.”
Stakeholders from the prison, local government and youth organizations attended last week’s workshop.
Magistrate Augustus hopes that this Bill will be presented to Cabinet later this year.
