A comparative study of child justice systems: any lessons for South Africa from The Netherlands?

Abstract

This submission is a theoretical overview of the adjectival process of child justice in The Netherlands. It offers insight into the criminal procedure of an almost pure inquisitorial system dealing with children in conflict with the law. Unlike the South African methodology, the Dutch approach uses welfare and education as the premise for its criminal actions against child offenders. The author posits that the South African system, especially with her incorporation of an inquisitorial preliminary inquiry in the child justice process, would benefit from the lessons offered in inquisitorial jurisdictions with regard to the implementation of the best interest standard in the process of prosecuting child offenders.