Juvenile Bill can do much more

Social activist Nicole Cole has hailed the Juvenile Justice Bill as being revolutionary, but has stated that the bill can do much more for juvenile and children.
Speaking on the recently tabled bill, the Women and Gender Equality Commission representative stated that the bill, presented to the National Assembly by Public Security Minister Kemraj Ramjattan, stipulates that children who are apprehended by Police must undergo a psychological evaluation.
“The question beckons: Do we have child psychologists? Do we have the relevant human resources to actually do the things that the bill is calling for?” Cole asked.
The activist disclosed that, prior to the presentation of the bill, several members of the Rights of the Child Commission (RCC) had had a forum with legal practitioners. She noted that those practitioners advised that this forum created a platform for the RCC to play a strategic role in advocating for the bill.
She explained the reasoning behind this, saying, “Because we are tabling a bill in Parliament, whereby we do not have all the necessary provisions as yet to actually complement that bill.” Cole went on to divulge this is the point where both financial and human resources are needed.
“You have children who do not belong in an institution, and this is where the bill needs to actually work towards fixing some of those maladies,” she continued.
Cole, who sits as a member of the RCC, has, for a number of years, been advocating for the tabling of the bill, which will see elimination of trivial offences such as wandering, which has landed a shocking amount of the nation’s children at the New Opportunity Corps (NOC).