‘There’s no functioning child panel in this region’: an assessment of child panels in Ghana’s juvenile justice system

ABSTRACT

Child Panels (CPs) are quasi-judicial bodies charged with administering alternative measures in accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act and the Children’s Act in Ghana. This study set out to examine the functioning, relevance, efficiency, and sustainability of CPs. Drawing on qualitative research methods of observation, semi-structured interviews, and a case study, the major findings of this study include a lack of awareness of the concept and existence of CPs with only one functioning CP in 12 districts in the study area that were supposed to have them, and a general lack of training for members of the panel. Notwithstanding these findings, when researchers prodded, interviewees’ responses pointed to tremendous support for the concept of CPs. The paper argues that implemented well, CPs have the potential to enhance access to justice for all children in the country considering their composition and requirement that they be formed by every municipal and district assembly in the country, which makes them more accessible to parents and their children everywhere in the country than other state agencies within the juvenile justice system. Hence, the paper recommends that CPs should be equipped to function efficiently.

KEYWORDS:

• Child panels
• juvenile justice
• diversion
• alternative measures
• restorative justice
• justice for children
• Ghana

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The data on which this paper is based were collected as part of a contract between UNICEF Ghana, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, and the authors. The views and opinions expressed in this paper are solely the views and opinions of the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of UNICEF or the Government of Ghana.

2. Sections 25–27 of Act 653 address diversion.

3. Section 27–32 of the Children’s Act (1998) (Act, p. 560).

4. Section 26 of Act 653.

5. Section 27 of Act 653.

6. The Ghana Police Service and the Domestic Violence and Victim’s Support Unit (DOVVSU), which is a unit within the Ghana Police responsible for children’s cases; the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Municipal/Metropolitan/District Assemblies (MMDAs); Department of Social Welfare; Ministry of Gender and Social Protection; Judicial Services; Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Legal Aid, NGOs/CBOs involved in juvenile justice issues/programs, and bilateral and multilateral partners such as UNICEF.

7. Based on the results of a referendum that was conducted in December 2018 by Ghana’s Electoral Commission, six additional regions were created in the early part of 2019 now making for a total of 16 regions in the country.

8. Alex Krueger, Guy Thompson, & Vimala Crispin (2013) ‘Learning from protection systems mapping and analysis in West Africa: Research and Policy Implications’ Draft version which was under peer review for publication by Global Policy.

9. See Ministry of Local Government and UNICEF Ghana (2008). Ghana: National Child Panel Training Manual Accra, Ghana for content of the workshops. It covered such topics as ‘Introduction to Child Rights’, ‘Introduction to the Concept of Child Development’, ‘Violence and Abuse of Children’, ‘Common Juvenile Offences and Types of Treatment’, ‘Purpose and Benefits of Diversion and Restorative Justice in Juvenile Justice Administration’, and ‘Record Keeping and Its Importance in the Work of Child Panels’.

10. For a good discussion of the J4CP, its challenges, and how it fits in with the Sustainable Development Goals see Robert Ame (2019). Journal of Global Ethics, Special Issue.

11. Law and Development Associates (2019). Report: Review of Children’s Act (1998) (Act, p. 560), the Juvenile Justice Act (2003) (Act, p. 653) and Related Child Protection Statutes and Policies. Accra: Ghana. This report highlighted the sections of these laws that have been recommended amendment and the proposals for the amendments.

12. Ibid. pages 164–172. In fact, the report incorporated most of the conclusions and recommendations in our report on Child Panels (Government of Ghana and UNICEF Ghana (2014). ‘Assessment of Child Panels and some Key Indicators of Ghana’s Juvenile Justice System’). This report was authored by the authors of this paper, Robert Ame (Lead Consultant), Lilian Ayete-Nyampong (Consultant), & Dzifa Gakpleazi (Consultant). This paper is based on our child panel report. See funding acknowledgment for further information on the report.

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to express gratitude to UNICEF Ghana for funding the research upon which this paper was based and for granting us permission to publish the findings. However, the opinions and views expressed in this article are not those of UNICEF Ghana; they are the opinions and views of the authors. The authors are fully responsible for any shortcomings or weaknesses in this paper.

Notes on contributors

Robert Ame

Dr. Robert Ame is Associate Professor of Human Rights and Criminology at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada. His research interests in human rights include Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) and Children’s Rights. His work in criminology focuses on the Youth Justice System in Ghana, Crimes Against Humanity, and Restorative Justice. His publications have appeared in academic journals such as the Journal of Global Ethics, Journal of Family History; Canadian Journal of Law and Society; International Journal of Children’s Rights; and the Canadian Journal of African Studies and as chapters in books.  He is co-editor of two books: lead co-editor of Children’s Rights in Ghana: Rhetoric or Reality?, which was published by Lexington Books in 2011 and co-editor of Childhoods at the Intersection of the Local and the Global published by Palgrave McMillan in 2012.

Lilian Ayete-Nyampong

Dr. Lilian Ayete-Nyampong is the Director of the Research Department at the Head office of Ghana’s Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). Lilian is an Educationist and a Development Sociologist. Lilian’s research interests include qualitative methodologies, actor perspectives and prison ethnography. Her scholarly contributions have featured in the following journals: Prison Service Journal; Journal of Relational Child and Youth Care Practice; Asia Pacific Journal of Contemporary Education and Communication Technology; Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the International Journal of Research in Sociology and Anthropology.  She has also authored chapters in books published by Lexington Books and Palgrave Macmillan.

Dzifa Ami Gakpleazi

Dzifa Ami Gakpleazi is a human rights lawyer with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Law and Linguistics from the University of Ghana, a qualifying certificate to practice law from the Ghana School of Law and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree, with Honours, in International Human Rights from the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, Illinois, USA.  She is an Adjunct Professor of Business Law at Ashesi University College, and a Lecturer at the Ghana School of Law. Her primary areas of research are in law, human rights and development. Her work has focused on child labour, human trafficking, women and children’s rights with particular reference to commercial sexual exploitation of women and children and women’s economic rights as well as human rights capacity building for law enforcement agencies and other relevant stakeholders.