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Child Justice Act, 2008 (Act No. 75 of 2008)

Chapter 2 : Application of Act, Criminal Capacity of Children under the age of 14 years and matters related to age

Part 1 : Application of Act

4. Application of Act

 

(1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act applies to any person in the Republic who is alleged to have committed an offence and—
(a) was under the age of 12 years at the time of the commission of the alleged offence; or
(b) was 12 years or older but under the age of 18 years when he or she was—
(i) handed a written notice in terms of section 18 or 22;
(ii) served with a summons in terms of section 19; or
(iii) arrested in terms of section 20,

for that offence.

[Section 4(1) substituted by section 2 of the Child Justice Amendment Act, 2019 (Act No. 28 of 2019), Notice No. 641, GG43402, dated 4 June 2020 - effective 19 August 2022 per Proclamation Notice 2400, GG46752, dated 19 August 2022]

 

(2) The Director of Public Prosecutions having jurisdiction may, in accordance with directives issued by the National Director of Public Prosecutions in terms of section 97(4)(a)(i)(aa), in the case of a person who—
(a) is alleged to have committed an offence when he or she was under the age of 18 years; and
(b) is 18 years or older but under the age of 21 years, at the time referred to in subsection (1)(b),

direct that the matter be dealt with in terms of section 5(2) to (4).

 

(3)        

(a) The Criminal Procedure Act applies with the necessary changes as may be required by the context to any person referred to in this section, except in so far as this Act provides for amended, additional or different provisions or procedures in respect of that person.
(b) For purposes of paragraph (a), Schedule 5 to this Act, which is not part of this Act and does not have the force of law, contains an exposition of the interface between the Criminal Procedure Act and this Act.