CMY2604
Dealing with South African children in conflict with the law
JANUARY 1, 2014
Charmaine Busch
, THEME 1: THE DEVELOPMENT OF
JUVENILE JUSTICE
1. THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE
1.1. ANTIQUITY
Oldest legal code: code of Hammurabi – 2270 BC. If a son strikes his father, his hands shall be cut
off.
Mosaic code: Old Testament. Basis for US legal system.
Ancient Hebrews (600-400BC were first to make tripartite division of childhood: infancy (0-6y),
puberty (males: 7-13y; females: 7-12y), and pre-adulthood (from end of puberty to 20y).
Codification of Roman law (450BC): Law of the Twelve Tables. At the age of puberty, children are
capable of criminal intent. 6y olds were hanged/burned at the stake.
English criminal law recognised status of child.
Anglo-Saxon period (AD449-1066): death sentence included youth. Age of majority: 10 or 12.
1.2. MIDDLE AGES
Swaddling and wet nursing, disease, malnutrition, infanticide, child abandonment contribute to
the death of children.
Few children received education. Sons worked the land. Daughters were a drain on the family.
Boys as young as 7 were apprenticed.
1.3. RENAISSANCE
Renewed interest in learning – children were educated.
Protestant Reformation affected the handling and treatment of children with respect to their
moral training, education and discipline.
Need for supervision of and attention to children was acknowledged.
USA: families influenced by urbanisation. Children were increasingly placed in schools.
1.4. COLONIAL PERIOD
1636-1823 in USA. Family: primary source of social control of children.
Public dunking and whipping, expulsion from community, capital punishment, fines for parents.
Puritan (English Protestants): training and discipline.
1646 Massachusetts Stubborn Child Law: if the family couldn’t control child, fines given or child
removed. Workhouse was a possibility for stubborn children.
Execution sermons were used as a warning against sin.
17th and 18th centuries in England:
o Nuclear family structure became dominant. Children lived with parents, received
education, were disciplined for academic and moral lapses.
o Apprenticeship movement.
o Chancery courts established to protect welfare of children. Children were under the
collective protection of the King, who acted as ‘parens patriae’ (father of the nation).
o Holland and England influenced SA legal system. Corporal punishment and deportation
were common.
Dealing with South African children in conflict with the law
JANUARY 1, 2014
Charmaine Busch
, THEME 1: THE DEVELOPMENT OF
JUVENILE JUSTICE
1. THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE
1.1. ANTIQUITY
Oldest legal code: code of Hammurabi – 2270 BC. If a son strikes his father, his hands shall be cut
off.
Mosaic code: Old Testament. Basis for US legal system.
Ancient Hebrews (600-400BC were first to make tripartite division of childhood: infancy (0-6y),
puberty (males: 7-13y; females: 7-12y), and pre-adulthood (from end of puberty to 20y).
Codification of Roman law (450BC): Law of the Twelve Tables. At the age of puberty, children are
capable of criminal intent. 6y olds were hanged/burned at the stake.
English criminal law recognised status of child.
Anglo-Saxon period (AD449-1066): death sentence included youth. Age of majority: 10 or 12.
1.2. MIDDLE AGES
Swaddling and wet nursing, disease, malnutrition, infanticide, child abandonment contribute to
the death of children.
Few children received education. Sons worked the land. Daughters were a drain on the family.
Boys as young as 7 were apprenticed.
1.3. RENAISSANCE
Renewed interest in learning – children were educated.
Protestant Reformation affected the handling and treatment of children with respect to their
moral training, education and discipline.
Need for supervision of and attention to children was acknowledged.
USA: families influenced by urbanisation. Children were increasingly placed in schools.
1.4. COLONIAL PERIOD
1636-1823 in USA. Family: primary source of social control of children.
Public dunking and whipping, expulsion from community, capital punishment, fines for parents.
Puritan (English Protestants): training and discipline.
1646 Massachusetts Stubborn Child Law: if the family couldn’t control child, fines given or child
removed. Workhouse was a possibility for stubborn children.
Execution sermons were used as a warning against sin.
17th and 18th centuries in England:
o Nuclear family structure became dominant. Children lived with parents, received
education, were disciplined for academic and moral lapses.
o Apprenticeship movement.
o Chancery courts established to protect welfare of children. Children were under the
collective protection of the King, who acted as ‘parens patriae’ (father of the nation).
o Holland and England influenced SA legal system. Corporal punishment and deportation
were common.
