RT Article
T1 ‘There’s no functioning child panel in this region’: an assessment of child panels in Ghana’s juvenile justice system
JF Contemporary justice review
VO 23
IS 4
SP 373
OP 400
A1 Ame, Robert Kwame 1958-
A2 Ayete-Nyampong, Lilian
A2 Gakpleazi, Dzifa
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1745877843
AB Child Panels (CPs) are quasi-judicial bodies charged with administering alternative measures in accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act and the Children’s Act in Ghana. This study set out to examine the functioning, relevance, efficiency, and sustainability of CPs. Drawing on qualitative research methods of observation, semi-structured interviews, and a case study, the major findings of this study include a lack of awareness of the concept and existence of CPs with only one functioning CP in 12 districts in the study area that were supposed to have them, and a general lack of training for members of the panel. Notwithstanding these findings, when researchers prodded, interviewees’ responses pointed to tremendous support for the concept of CPs. The paper argues that implemented well, CPs have the potential to enhance access to justice for all children in the country considering their composition and requirement that they be formed by every municipal and district assembly in the country, which makes them more accessible to parents and their children everywhere in the country than other state agencies within the juvenile justice system. Hence, the paper recommends that CPs should be equipped to function efficiently.
K1 Ghana
K1 justice for children
K1 Restorative Justice
K1 Alternative measures
K1 Diversion
K1 Juvenile Justice
K1 Child panels
DO 10.1080/10282580.2020.1719362