Youth, competence and punishment: Reflections on South Africa’s minimum sentencing regime for juvenile offenders

Abstract

Is the honeymoon over for the minimum sentencing regime for juveniles in trouble with the law? The answer must be in the affirmative. This follows the Centre for Child Law’s successful application (to the Constitutional Court) for confirmation of the High Court’s declaration that the Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997 (CLAA) is, to the extent it codifies the changes inserted into it by the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Amendment Act 38 of 2007 (the Amendment Act), unconstitutional. Minimum sentencing for certain serious offences first found its way into South African law through section 51 of the CLAA.