Protection Fact Sheet: Children in Conflict with the Law
- There are 1 million children in detention today.
- 90% of children in conflict with the law are petty offenders.
- Four out of five children who commit an offence only commit one in their life time.
- The majority of children who end up in the criminal justice system are from deprived communities and discriminated against minorities.
- In the UK, 50% of children in detention have either been in care or involved with the social services. A significant proportion have also suffered violence or sexual abuse at home.
- In Uganda, 70% of children taking part in a study on children in conflict with the law said that their main reason for stealing was to get food and meet basic needs.
- In Kenya, research found that 80 – 85% of children in police custody or correctional facilities were children in need of care and protection and had committed no offence. 33 countries and territories still permit corporal punishment as a court sentence for children.
- 6 countries still permit the death sentence for crimes committed by children and 15
Further information
pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/sc_facts.doc
Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.
