Lift up, not lock up, children

The article 'Jail juveniles for 48 hours max!' in The Gleaner (June 16, 2013) reports that UNICEF is reminding that under the Child Care and Protection Act (CCPA), children should not be kept at a police station for more than 48 hours.

It might be useful for the public to be aware of what the currently available data show about the length of time children spend in police lock-ups.

In the most recent Quarterly Statistical Bulletin from the Office of the Children's Registry (Vol. 1, No. 3, July-Sept 2012, Release date March 19, 2013, posted on the OCR website), there is a section dealing with data for children in police custody for the period October 19, 2012-January 25, 2013.

Over that 15-week period, 18 girls were held in police lock-ups islandwide. There were 10 different categories for the types of offence they were being held for. In only two of those categories was the average length of time spent in custody two days or less, and the number of girls included in those categories was two.

The other eight categories ranged from a low of three days to a high of 10 days spent in custody. This means that 16 of the 18 girls spent an average time, which was against the law set out in the CCPA - 89 per cent.

During that same period, 149 boys were held in police lock-ups. There were 41 categories for the types of offence they were being held for. In only eight of those categories was the average length of time spent in custody two days or less, and the number of boys included in those categories was 10. The other 33 categories ranged from a low of 2.5 days to a high of 20 days spent in custody. This means that 139 of the 149 boys spent an average time which was against the law set out in the CCPA - 93 per cent.

This 15-week snapshot from late 2012 into early 2013 is in keeping with the analysis of the available data for all of 2012, which shows that the majority of children who are kept in police lock-ups in Jamaica are kept for longer than the 48 hours (two days) set out in the CCPA. The Government of Jamaica is routinely breaking the law in this regard.

Every Friday, the Detention and Courts Division of the police force creates a document showing the number of children in police lock-ups across the island, including the length of time each has spent in the lock-up. Those reports are sent weekly to the Child Development Agency and the Office of the Children's Advocate.

I would suggest that copies be sent weekly to the desks of the ministers of national security, youth and culture, and justice, and to the prime minister, as a reminder to the Government of Jamaica of its obligation to act within the law regarding these children.

At some point, we must stop investing in a paradigm of locking up our children, and invest instead in a paradigm of lifting them up.

Susan Goffe is chairperson of Jamaicans for Justice, a human-rights lobby. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and susangoffe@gmail.com.