DSD UTILISES TECHNOLOGY TO TRACK ARRESTED CHILDREN IN REAL-TIME

By Lumka Oliphant

• The Department of Social Development (DSD) has implemented Integrated Justice System (IJS) technologies to monitor and manage cases of arrested children in real-time.
• The Probation Case Management (PCM) system, linked with the South African Police Service (SAPS), alerts the DSD about every child arrest across the country, allowing for swift and informed decisions.
• This initiative aims to protect children’s rights, ensuring they are treated appropriately within the legal system and in accordance with the Children’s Act and Child Justice Act.

Gone are the days when the department of social development (DSD) could not account for arrested children in real time, thanks to the Integrated Justice System (IJS) technologies dispatched to the DSD. 

One of these systems is the Probation Management Case Management (PCM) that is integrated into the South African Police Service (SAPS) which notifies DSD of  every child who is arrested across the country. 

Meet Mthetho Mqonci, social manager for social crime prevention at the DSD who receives this information from SAPS when they arrest a child to make sure that every arrested child is not deprived of their liberties. 

Mqonci receives between 30 – 50 cases daily. These cases, Mqonci reveals, range from petty crimes to very serious crimes. This PCM enables the criminal justice system to make immediate and informed decisions about how to place a child and to avoid detention. 

The department of social development is the custodian of the Children’s Act and is implementing the Child Justice Act. 

“Children in South Africa regardless of the type of crime committed, they must still be prosecuted as children,” explained Mqonci. 

Mqonci explained children can be placed under probation, home-based supervision or released under pre-trial supervision orders or sent to a secure centre managed by DSD rather than be taken to a correctional centre. 

The Department of Social Development has 29 functional secure centres across the country. Between April to September 2023, a total of 7091 children were assessed by DSD. 

5862 children are awaiting trial in our secure care centres, 601 were referred for community diversion, 1639 were referred to residential secure care centres. 

The top five offences by children were: 

1. Common assault with 322 committed by males and 118 by females
2. Assault GBH – 317 by males and 118 by females
3. Malicious damage to property – 159 males, 22 females
4. Theft – 146 males, 23 females
5. Shoplifting – 95 by males and 47 by females

More on children in conflict with the law, watch: 

https://dsdtv.org.za/episode/children-in-conflict-with-the-law/#

What is the role of the Department of Social Development in the implementation of the Child Justice Act: 

The Department of Social Development is mandated with the implementation of the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008; the Probation Services Act (Act 116 of 1991) as amended, and the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, and as such must fulfil early intervention services (reception, assessment and referral services, restorative justice programmes, diversion programmes); prevention programmes, services to victims of crime and statutory services. 

In compliance with the National Policy Framework on the implementation of Child Justice Act, the department of Social Development’s responsibility includes:

1. Making available probation officers for all issues relating to assessment of all children apprehended on allegations of having committed a criminal offence (referrals, placement and on appropriateness of diversion); perform duties in court;
2. Management of children placed under probation, home-based supervision or released under pre-trial supervision orders; children serving community-based sentences and diversion orders;
3. Provisioning of and management of Child and Youth Care Centres for children awaiting trial; educational programmes to children awaiting trial; support to SAPS on related issues;
4. Compile and submit pre-sentence reports within 6 weeks on request by the Child Justice Court;  submit a report by Head of the Child and Youth Care Centre on child’s completion of a compulsory residential sentence to court;
5. Establishing and maintaining the registered children less than 10 years of age and another for diversion referral.
6. Accreditation of diversion service providers and programmes for both private and public entities.

Our point of entry is once a child is arrested SAPS -Notifies DSD – assess the child and make recommendations to court- court decides on outcome whether the child should be placed under parental custody or await trial in a secure care centre.