THE PROFILE AND TREATMENT
OF SERIOUS JUVENILE OFFENDERS IN JAMAICA
Ina Rose Hunter*

I. INTRODUCTION
One of Jamaica’s growing concerns is the state of crime and violence and in particular the involvementof children in criminal activities. The fear is that the fate of successive generations is precariously poised if
this trend continues. Factors such as unstable family life, poverty, peer pressure, exposure to drugs and gangrelated activities as well as an erosion of strong morals, values and attitudes have been linked to the increasein the incidence of crime among our children.
This paper seeks to put in perspective the profile and treatment of children in Jamaica who are in conflictwith the law, especially those who commit serious and violent offences. The treatment of these children isplaced within the context of pre-trial, trial and institutional care. The main focus is placed on the Departmentof Correctional Services, the state agency responsible for the care and custody of offenders, and in whosecharge the most violent and serious offenders are placed.
In recent years, the profile of children who commit crimes has changed. For those involved in serious
crimes, the persona as summarized by journalist Geof Brown in the local Daily Observer of 21 October
2005, gives an indication of the extent of this change: “Police tell us that if you face a gunman in his early or
mid teens, your chances of survival are virtually nil. Older gunmen in their 20s and 30s will spare you on thebasis of your appeal that you have a family dependent on you”.
The general profile of a violent and serious child offender is a male, 15 to 16 years of age, who lacks
basic literacy and numeracy skills and who is armed with a type of bravado which appears to make him feelruthless and invincible. Such a profile has resulted in calls from different areas of the society for a moveaway from the interest and welfare of the child offender, toward one which is more concerned with public
safety. The justice system is however undergirded by a rehabilitative thrust which places the welfare of
the children first and foremost, while acknowledging the threat to themselves and to the society. The
understanding is that there are factors and experiences which are impacting on these children’s behaviour
and given the appropriate interventions, change is possible.

A. Legislative Support
Issues affecting children have always been given priority attention. Further to the United Nations
Conventions on the Rights of the Child, a National Plan of Action for Children was developed. The
formulation of a National Policy for Children in 1997, as well as a task force and a monitoring committee
which directed the legislative process and the subsequent enactment of the Child Care and Protection Act
in 2004, emerged from the justice review process. The legislative framework was further strengthenedby the appointment of a Children’s Advocate in 2006 and the establishment of the Office of the Children’s
Advocate. The Children’s Advocate acts as an Ombudsman for matters affecting children and the Office of
the Children’s Advocate makes legal representation on their behalf.
The legislative framework makes provision for the care and protection of all children who offend thelaw, irrespective of their offences. The Child Care and Protection Act, the main domestic instrumentthat implements rights recognized by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and related internationalguidelines, uses the term “child” instead of “juvenile”. It defines a child as “a person under the age of* Educational Co-ordinator, Department of Correctional Services, Ministry of National Security, Jamaica.

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eighteen years” and stipulates that “it shall be conclusively presumed that no child under the age of twelve
years can be guilty of an offence” (Section 63).

B. Reasons for which Children were brought before the Court
The reasons for which children were brought before the Court in 2006, as indicated in Table 1, paints
a disturbing picture of the needs of our children and their involvement in criminal activities. There were2,629 cases of children appearing before the court, an increase of 365 compared to 2005. The offences withthe highest frequencies were Wounding, Dangerous Drugs, Armed with Offensive Weapon and Assault
Occasioning Bodily Arm. Of major concern is that over the years offences have noticeably shifted frommainly simple larceny and wounding to include more serious ones which are related to sex, guns and drugs.
Table 1: Reasons for which Children were brought before the Courts in 2006

Major Offences/Reasons
MurderAssault
Carnal Abuse
Rape
Indecent Assault
Robbery with Aggravation
Unlawful Possession
Attempted Larceny & Praedial Larceny
Breaking & Entering & Larceny
Wounding
Assault Occasioning Bodily Harm
Dangerous Drugs
Armed with Offensive Weapon
Malicious Destruction of Property
Care and Protection
Other Major Offences
Minor & Other Offences
Grand Total

Male
13
40
24
25
63
35
1
105
41
173
93
184
161
26
409
110
176
1679

Female
3
19
3
16
3
75
39
8
14
9
525
40
196
950

Total
16
59
24
25
66
35
1
121
44
248
132
192
175
35
934
150
372
2629

Annual Report, Department of Correctional Services 2006

Although the number of children brought before the court for care and protection was 15 fewer than2005, there is much cause for concern. Care and protection of children are underlying issues for some ofthe serious offences. This is evident in the increase in the number of children who transition from Placesof Safety (usually for care and protection) to Juvenile Correctional Centres for offences which are related to
conduct disorders. It is mooted that the young age at which people take on the responsibility of parenting
is contributing significantly to this scenario. Children are having children and the implication is that thereis the need for the necessary guidance and training of these young parents so that they can pass on theappropriate norms and values of the society.

II. PRETRIAL
When a child comes into conflict with the law, the Child Care and Protection Act empowers the police
to take the child into custody. If the child cannot be brought forthwith before the Court, the officer or subofficer in charge of the police station to which the child is brought has the responsibility to find an immediate
placement for the child in one of the Places of Safety which are operated by the Child Development Agency(which falls directly under the Ministry of Health). For an offence deemed violent and/or serious, the child
may have to remain in the custody of the police until the matter is brought before the Children’s Court orbefore a Resident Magistrate in chambers if there is no sitting of the Children’s Court in that parish.
“Any court on remanding or committing for trial a child who is not released on bail shall commit that childto custody in a juvenile remand centre named in the commitment, to be detained there for the period for121

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which the child is remanded or until the child is there delivered by a course of law” (Section 68 (1).
There is however only one male juvenile facility and it has a capacity for 48 children. Currently there
is no female juvenile facility. This is posing a major problem as offences by females have been increasing
steadily. The reality is that children who commit serious offences have had to be remanded in adultfacilities. While this is not desirable, the legislative framework makes such a provision but stipulates thatchildren should not be placed within the same areas as adults and should have attained the age of 14 years.
The pie chart below indicates that a total of 440 children were remanded in the care of the Departmentof Correctional Services in 2007 (Research, Planning and Evaluation Unit, Department of Correctional
Services).
PIE CHART SHOWING JUVENILES REMANDED IN 200725%
(108 female)

75%(332 male)

Male
FemaleAlthough remand is intended for short term placement, children sometimes spend over a year on
remand. This no doubt affects their state of mind as they become preoccupied with the uncertainty of theoutcome of their case. Affected as well is the ability to plan effectively given the uncertainty of a rolling
population and the infrastructure limitations of adult facilities.

III. TRIAL
In examining each case, the Juvenile or Family Court usually requests a Social Enquiry Report (SER)
from the Probation Officer assigned to the case. Included in this report are the findings from interviews withthe victim(s), the community, school, parents and the child accused of the offence. A psychiatric evaluation
may also be requested.
In summing up the case, the Probation Officer makes a recommendation to the Court from his or herfindings on the home surrounding, school record, health and character/profile of the child.
Based on the circumstances surrounding the case and what it deems to be in the best interest of thechild, the Court may choose one of the options which include but are not limited to the following:(i) an order committing the child to the care of a fit person;(ii) an order placing the child for a specified period not exceeding three years under the supervision of aprobation aftercare officer, a children’s officer, or some other person selected for the purpose by the
Minister;(iii) an order (Correctional Order) sending a child to a juvenile correctional centre.
The Correctional Order places the child into the custodial care of the Department of Correctional
services for a period not beyond the 18th birthday, on the premise that a structured environment with
opportunities for rehabilitation best serves the interest of the child. There are situations however, in whicha child who commits a serious and or violent offence is treated differently. In such instance, the commitment
may be made for the child to be detained beyond the 18th birthday. The child having attained the age of 18 isthen transferred to the adult facility to complete his/her sentence.
“The death sentence however, shall not be pronounced or recorded against a person convicted of an
offence if it appears to the Court that at the time when the offence was committed he was under the age

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139TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEPERTICIPANTS’ PAPERSof eighteen years, but in place thereof such person shall be liable to be imprisoned for life” (Section 77,
Child Care and Protection Act). The court may specify the period which the person becomes eligible forparole. The person should be 14 years old before being committed to an adult correctional centre. However,according to Section 78 (5), “a child under fourteen years old may be sentenced to a maximum of twenty
five years if the court considers this to be the only suitable sentence where a child is convicted of a serious
offence”.

IV. INSTITUTIONAL CARE AND TREATMENT
A. The Department of Correctional Services
The Department of Correctional Services in Jamaica falls directly under the Ministry of National Security
and is mandated to contribute to the safety and protection of the society by keeping offenders placed by the
court in its facilities secure and facilitating their rehabilitation. The Department carries out its mandate
within the guidelines of a number of Acts including but not limited to the Corrections, the Child Care andProtection, the Probation of Offenders, the Criminal Justice Reform and Parole Acts. It is also guided byinternational bodies such as the United Nations.
The Department’s Chief Executive Officer is the Commissioner of Corrections, who is presently Major
Richard Reese. Custodial Services and Human Resource Management/Community Services are the twomain areas of the Department and are each managed by a Deputy Commissioner. The rehabilitation of
offenders is one of the core strategic functions of the Department. In 2000 the Rehabilitation Unit wasestablished to streamline and better manage the rehabilitative services for adult and child offenders, whichwere up to that time infused in the general operations of the Department. The Unit works closely with the
Director of Juvenile Services (who has direct supervision of juvenile institutions) on matters pertaining to
the welfare of children in custodial care.
Consistent with the idea of empowerment through rehabilitation, the correctional process of the
Department of Correctional Services, Jamaica, is one that seeks to provide an environment that will
empower and rehabilitate those in its care and custody, so that upon their release to open society they
will be successfully reintegrated and become peaceful, responsible and productive law abiding citizens.
Stinchomb and Fox (1999) see this as replacing correctional control with self-control.

B. Juvenile Institutions
Although the Child Care and Protection Act uses the word “child” instead of “juvenile” there is yet nochange in legislation for the renaming of juvenile centres. There are three Juvenile Correctional Centres(two for males) in which offenders between the ages of 13 and 17 are placed subsequent to the ruling by the
court. There is also a Juvenile Remand Centre for males who are awaiting a final disposition of their cases.
Each juvenile centre embraces the home and school concept and is managed by a Superintendent and acadre of Correctional Officers, Teachers, Instructors, a Welfare Officer, a Case Manager, House Mothers andother support staff. As much as is possible, activities for schools in the centre mirror those in the regularschools which are operated by the Ministry of Education.
Institutional care and treatment however, take place in institutions which accommodate children
above their physical capacity. Table 2 gives the capacity and the population (muster) in adult and juvenile
institutions as of 5 March 2008. This indicates one of the highest numbers of children in the care of the
Department of Correctional Services (for both males and females). Of note is that there is a significant
increase in female offenders.

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Table 2: Juvenile Correctional Centres Capacity Status as of 5 March 2008

JUVENILE CENTRES
Armadale (females)
Hill Top (males)
Rio Cobre (males)
St. Andrew Remand (males)
ADULT CORRECTIONAL/REMAND
Fort Augusta (females)
Horizon (males & females)TOTAL

CAPACITY
45
98
120
48

MUSTER
65
103
126
46

EXCESS
20
5
6
-

311

39
52
431

39
52
120

(Research Planning & Evaluation Unit, Department of Correctional Services)

C. Assessment Procedures
On entry into correctional facilities an initial interview is conducted with the child to welcome and inform
him/her of the nature of the facility, the opportunities for rehabilitation and what is expected of him/her. The
concerns and needs of the child are noted. Within 30 days of admittance, a risk/need analysis is done using
the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI). This is a Canadian-based instrumentused subject to the training of all persons who use the instrument, as a condition to preserve its integrity
and to guard against its misuse.
The use of this instrument is predicated on the assumptions that the causes of youth offending arise frominterrelated variables and that intervention with high-risk youths can be effective in reducing the chances ofanti-social activity. Information gathered is used to classify children according to their risk needs levels andfor special occasions such as the granting of licence and other conditional release programmes.
The YLS/CMI is skewed more toward a psychological assessment of the factors which predispose
persons to commit crimes and those factors which may result in recidivism. The major challenge inusing this instrument is that there is some disconnect between the Social Enquiry Report (SER) and theinformation required by the instrument. Arising from this, not enough information is obtained from thefirst assessment. However as the assessor interacts more with the child, the assessment which is done six
months after provides more reliable information and more effective use of the instrument. The Department
is now challenged to review the SER form to facilitate greater harmony with the risk assessment
instrument.
Periodic assessment informs behaviour modification and treatment regimes. A treatment plan isdeveloped for each child and managed by a Case Manager who is assigned to each of the juvenile remand andcorrectional centres as well as the adult correctional centres in which the children are placed. The efforts of
the Case Managers are complemented by psychiatrists, psychologists, medical doctors and other specialized
service providers. Each centre also has a welfare officer who sees to the general needs of the children
and whose duties include conducting risk assessment, scheduling visits, making medical/dental and otherappointments and facilitating the relationship between children and the outside world.
In the past children were separated based on the types of offences as Juvenile Correctional Centres wereclassified based on the level of security. The more serious offenders and older children were placed at theHill Top Juvenile Correctional Centre. Overcrowding in all the facilities however, has led to children being
placed based on the availability of space and not so much on the nature of the offences. Additionally, similar
security features now exist in all the institutions and it is difficult to differentiate the security levels basedon physical appearance. Risk assessment now assists in standardizing the risk levels of child offenders.
Scores of low, medium, high and very high immediately convey to authorities the security risk of each child.

D. Education and Training
The Child Care and Protection Act makes education compulsory for children in the care of the state. Eachjuvenile facility has an education programme which offers academic, vocational and development training.

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Children are placed in ability groups and are exposed to all areas of training. They are prepared for internal
as well as external examinations. A recent study conducted in juvenile correctional centres indicates that
more than 75% of the children are motivated to achieve academically. The findings suggest however, thatthe teaching modalities are not meeting the needs of most of the children. The emotional and psychologicalissues which the children bring to the classroom impact negatively on teaching and learning, a situation
made worse by the lack of expertise among the teachers to effectively manage the psychological effects ofcustodial care on learning.

E. Behaviour Modification
Each child’s progress is monitored through several means such as the disciplinary committees, caseconferences, peer counselling and special awards systems. Children who improve in their behaviour are
granted special privileges. Twice per year, in the summer holidays and at Christmas, children who qualify
are allowed home leave. Some are granted licence, a form of conditional release whereby they are given theopportunity to spend the remaining portion of the Correctional Order in their community, under statutory
supervision of a Probation Aftercare Officer. Any breach of conditions for licence can result in a recall to thejuvenile correctional centre.
F. General Care and Protection
The understanding is that children are in custodial care as punishment and not for punishment. Everyeffort is therefore made to protect children from physical, emotional and other types of abuse. Corporalpunishment is forbidden and mutual respect encouraged. Officers assigned to juvenile remand andcorrectional centres are carefully selected and receive additional training in how to treat children, especiallythose with conduct disorders.
Support systems are in place to ensure and encourage communication between children and their homes.
Each child is entitled to visits and telephone calls. Special events such as Parents Day, Probation Day, Sports
Day and Christmas Dinner provide opportunities for all children to meet with their families.
Efforts toward rehabilitation however, are impeded by overcrowding and the placement or transfer
of children to adult facilities. The Montpelier Camp, situated in St. James, a parish in the western endof the island, has been officially declared as the site for a new juvenile remand and correctional centre
with a capacity to accommodate two hundred and fifty children. Budgetary constraints however present aformidable challenge to this venture.

V. REINTEGRATION AND COMMUNITY INTERVENTIONS
It is argued that the true test of rehabilitation is the ability of persons to remain focused and law
abiding upon their return to open society. While this is true it can be further argued that in any behaviour
modification, a support system is necessary for continued progress. The major hindrance to the support
mechanism is that the Department of Correctional Services has no legal authority over children once they
are released from its care even if they have not attained the age of eighteen.
On moral grounds and in the best interest of the children, the Department seeks placement ineducational institutions including colleges and monitors the process for the smooth transition into education
programmes. The probation offices are available for those who choose to utilize the services. Those children
who show an aptitude or interest in vocational training are referred to HEART/NTA, (Human Employment
and Resource Training/National Training Agency) for vocational training. Parents are also encouraged to bea part of the reintegration process and are asked to seek out institutions in close proximity to their homes
for placement. Interest in entrepreneurship is facilitated as financial and material support is available forchildren so inclined.
Hoge, Guerra & Boxer (2008) advise that treatment for serious and violent offenders should be riskfocused and strength-based. A major issue requiring such consideration is an assessment of the needs ofchildren who are from volatile communities with very fragile support. The risks/needs of these children
would best be served if after their release from the correctional centres they were placed in a facility forfurther support as they make the transition back into open society. The introduction of a halfway house

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for children who need to be distanced from the negative influences of their community and placed in anenvironment for furthering their education and general development is an idea that the Department has
advanced. This however requires policy change and additional financial, human and material resources.
The Department embraces the Asian adage that “it takes a whole village to raise a child”. Aware of
the challenges which parents have in carrying out their role effectively, parental seminars are held in theinstitutions, at Probation Offices, at Parent-Teachers’ Meetings and in aspects of the communities. Someschools have been experiencing challenges which stem from problems in the home. In their effort to findsolutions to the growing indiscipline among students, they have been requesting tours of correctional
facilities. The Department continues to facilitate these requests and the feedback is that the visits serve as a
wake-up call for students and a positive influence on their behaviour.
Representatives of the Department are usually invited to speak on issues of correctional management
and opportunities for service in correctional institutions. Counselling services for parents and children
are available at the probation offices which are located island-wide. Together with parents/guardians andteachers, proactive measures are undertaken. However, if the situation warrants the intervention of thecourt, this is sought. For those matters in which children are considered uncontrollable, parents are usually
made aware of the implications of taking the matter before the court, which include the possibility that thechild could be removed from their custody as a measure of last resort.

VI. CONCLUSION
Like many developing countries, Jamaica is challenged by the involvement of children in criminal
activities. The change in the profile of these children and the corresponding change in the landscape of thecrimes in which they are involved are areas of major concern. While there is evidence of a sensitive justicesystem through reform, the corresponding processes need to be in tandem with the needs of our children,
especially those who are on remand.
The efforts of the Department of Correctional Services, the agency responsible for custody andrehabilitation of offenders, are being hampered by the limited infrastructure. The lack of appropriate
facilities for remand cases results in children being placed in adult facilities. Although this conforms to thelegislative framework it is far from desirable given the limited provisions in adult facilities. The effective
management of treatment for child offenders, especially those who commit serious and violent offences,
requires a smoother transitioning from the correctional process back to their communities. In this regard,
the concept of a halfway house is an idea which is worth pursuing to minimize the risk of reoffending.

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139TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEPERTICIPANTS’ PAPERSREFERENCES
Department of Correctional Services, Jamaica. (2006). Annual Report.
Hoge, R.; Guerra; & Boxer, P. (2008) Treating the juvenile offender . Guilford Press, New York.
Stinchomb, B. & Fox, V. (1999). Introduction to corrections . Simon & Shuster, Prentice Hall.
The Child Care and Protection Act, Jamaica (2004).
The Child Care and Protection Act, Jamaica (2004). Implementation handbook for professionals.

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