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Juvenile justice: Seat in court is not a voice
Across many juvenile justice systems, including Uganda’s, children attend legal proceedings without meaningfully taking part in them. Adults speak for them, speak about them and make decisions on their behalf, often without ensuring that they understand what is happening or feel able to express their own views. Attendance is mistaken for participation.
Maria Opolot. (Courtesy)
By: Admin ., Journalist @New Vision
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OPINION
By Maria Opolot
In a courtroom, a boy stands quietly as the charges against him are read aloud. He is asked whether the facts are true. Hesitantly, he nods. Around him are police officers in uniform, lawyers flipping through files, a magistrate and strangers listening intently. The room is intimidating. It doesn’t matter that the parts of the story are wrong or that important details have been left out. He says “yes” because everything in the room tells him to. Correcting an adult feels impossible. He simply wants the ordeal to end.
Many would look at that scene and conclude that justice has taken its course. After all, the child was present in court. But presence is not participation.
Across many juvenile justice systems, including Uganda’s, children attend legal proceedings without meaningfully taking part in them. Adults speak for them, speak about them and make decisions on their behalf, often without ensuring that they understand what is happening or feel able to express their own views. Attendance is mistaken for participation.
This matters because justice cannot be truly fair if the person at the centre of the proceedings does not understand the process or feel able to contribute to it. A child who does not understand why a decision was made is less likely to trust it, comply with it or learn from it. Rehabilitation begins with understanding.
The right of children to participate is well-established in international law, but it is more than a legal obligation. It is an acknowledgement that children are rights holders with perspectives that deserve respect. Listening to children means ensuring they are informed, heard and treated with dignity throughout the process, not that they are dictating legal outcomes.
In practice, however, meaningful participation remains elusive. Legal proceedings are often conducted in a language children cannot understand. Courtrooms can be intimidating spaces where questioning an adult is unthinkable. Time pressures and routine practices mean professionals may focus on concluding cases rather than ensuring children genuinely comprehend what is taking place. When this happens, participation becomes a procedural formality instead of a lived reality.
Across many juvenile justice systems, including Uganda’s, children attend legal proceedings without meaningfully taking part in them. Adults speak for them, speak about them and make decisions on their behalf, often without ensuring that they understand what is happening or feel able to express their own views. Attendance is mistaken for participation.
This matters because justice cannot be truly fair if the person at the centre of the proceedings does not understand the process or feel able to contribute to it. A child who does not understand why a decision was made is less likely to trust it, comply with it or learn from it. Rehabilitation begins with understanding.
The right of children to participate is well-established in international law, but it is more than a legal obligation. It is an acknowledgement that children are rights holders with perspectives that deserve respect. Listening to children means ensuring they are informed, heard and treated with dignity throughout the process, not that they are dictating legal outcomes.
In practice, however, meaningful participation remains elusive. Legal proceedings are often conducted in a language children cannot understand. Courtrooms can be intimidating spaces where questioning an adult is unthinkable. Time pressures and routine practices mean professionals may focus on concluding cases rather than ensuring children genuinely comprehend what is taking place. When this happens, participation becomes a procedural formality instead of a lived reality.
Speak a mutual language
Meaningful participation does not require expensive reforms. It begins with simple but deliberate changes; explaining proceedings in a language children understand, giving them time to ask questions, creating environments where they feel safe to speak and equipping police officers, probation officers, lawyers and judicial officers with the skills to communicate effectively with children. Just as importantly, children should be told how their views influence the decisions made, even where those decisions do not align with what they wanted.
These may seem like small steps, but they can transform a child’s experience of justice. A system that listens is more likely to make informed decisions, earn children’s trust and support their rehabilitation.
Children in conflict with the law are not problems to be managed. We should, therefore, not measure the fairness of our juvenile justice system by whether children appear in court, but by whether they leave it feeling that they were heard, understood and treated with dignity. Justice begins with presence. But it is only fulfilled through participation.
The writer is a lawyer and child protection advocate
Meaningful participation does not require expensive reforms. It begins with simple but deliberate changes; explaining proceedings in a language children understand, giving them time to ask questions, creating environments where they feel safe to speak and equipping police officers, probation officers, lawyers and judicial officers with the skills to communicate effectively with children. Just as importantly, children should be told how their views influence the decisions made, even where those decisions do not align with what they wanted.
These may seem like small steps, but they can transform a child’s experience of justice. A system that listens is more likely to make informed decisions, earn children’s trust and support their rehabilitation.
Children in conflict with the law are not problems to be managed. We should, therefore, not measure the fairness of our juvenile justice system by whether children appear in court, but by whether they leave it feeling that they were heard, understood and treated with dignity. Justice begins with presence. But it is only fulfilled through participation.
The writer is a lawyer and child protection advocate