Borstal homes record increase in child delinquency

One hundred and thirty-six juveniles were detained at borstal homes in the country in 2015.

Out of the number, 84 of the inmates were between the ages of 16 and 18 while 39 of them were between  12 and 15 years.

The Director General at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Commissioner of Police (COP), Mr Prosper Kwame Agblor, made this known at the 3rd Child/Youth Policy Discussion Forum in Accra last Wednesday.

He said for the first quarter of 2016 alone, 24 juveniles had been detained at the correctional centres, which, according to him, was an indication that the situation was worsening.

He stated that offences such as stealing, defilement, unlawful entry, robbery, causing unlawful harm, possession and use of narcotic drugs and indecent assault usually landed the culprits in jail.

Mr Agblor was speaking on the theme: “The Situation of Juvenile Crime in Ghana; the investigative perspective.”

The one-day forum was organised by the Child Research and Resource Centre (CRRECENT), a civil society organisation (CSO) that promotes children and youth development in Ghana, and was sponsored by Reach for Change, also a CSO, and Tigo Ghana.

Raising concerns about inadequate correctional centres for children, Mr Agblor said the situation sometimes had compelled the authorities to put the children together with adults at the various cells which was not the best option, “and this calls for the building and resourcing of many centres across the country to reform offenders appropriately.”    

Causes of child delinquency

Contributing to a panel discussion, the Vice Principal at the School of Social Work at the Department of Social Welfare, Dr Price Boamah, said “enough researches have pointed to the fact that the lack of parental guidance and parental supervision is a major contributory factor to the onset of crime among children in the country.”

A lecturer at the Department of Sociology at the University of Ghana, Prof. Kodjo Sena, also expressed concerns over the lack of adequate data for child delinquency in Ghana, and added that “you hardly come by data on child delinquency.”

Management and interventions 

An Offender Management Consultant, Mr Marcus Chris Lawson, said there was the need for stakeholders to put the necessary measures in place to manage the situation and bring it under control.

He further called for the law to function effectively in order to protect the rights of children.

Earlier in her address, the Executive Director of CRRECENT, Mrs Susan Sabaa, stated that the organisation, over the last six years, had been running a reintegration programme for juvenile offenders which had yielded results.

“We use an approach that allows young people and their immediate family members to be active participants in charting a new path for their future by identifying their potential and interests and helping build upon them,” she said.

Over the years, Mrs Sabaa said the organisation had supported over 250 juveniles who were released from jails in various ways, including catering for their education from the primary to the tertiary levels, provision of shelters, apprenticeship and assistance in the setting up of businesses.

Mrs Sabaa underscored the resolve of CRRECENT to build many borstal homes and correctional centres which would be fully resourced to cater for the various needs of the inmates in order to make them better people before they were released.

As part of her contribution towards fighting for the rights of children, Mrs Sabaa was awarded by Reach for Change.