Justice: Juvenile cases doubled in past four years – lawyers’ association

The number of cases involving juvenile offenders has more than doubled over the past four years, rising to 4,500 between 2020 and 2024, up from around 2,000 in previous years, according to data from the Rwanda Bar Association (RBA). Juvenile crimes are crimes committed by persons under the age of 18. These are always classified as delinquency, with an emphasis on rehabilitation and reintegration into society rather than punishment. ALSO READ: ILPD graduates first-ever cohort of postgraduate programme in Child Justice Moise Nkundabarashi, the President of RBA, in a meeting with lawyers, said: “In the past four years, from 2020 up to last year, 2024, in our statistics at the Bar Association, the numbers of the ones that we managed to represent moved from 2,000 to pretty much 4,500.” In an interview with The New Times, Harrison Mutabazi, the Spokesperson of the Judiciary, urged all actors involved in juvenile justice including prosecutors, investigators, judges to still take continuous trainings so as to stay updated on how to handle different challenges that evolve in juvenile crimes. “I think we should be having more continuous legal training for such actors,” he said. “I'm not only talking for judges, but also various actors that are in that chain so that we should be having some harmonisation. Things are changing; there are new crimes that are emerging. You will now find new crimes like cyber crimes in which even the juveniles may be involved.” Geraldine Umugwaneza, a judge at the Court of Appeal, argued that families should be aware of juvenile justice, and always try to protect children and ensure they do not get involved in crimes. Naomi Umuhoza, a juvenile justice lecturer at the Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILDP), who is a proponent of restorative justice, emphasized the role of the community in shaping better children in cases where a family is not fulfilling its responsibilities. “Children are victims, they are spoiled by the environment. No child should be in court. A family has a big role in raising children appropriately. The community should also intervene when there is family neglect in disciplining their children so as to lower crime rates of minors,’’ said Umuhoza. Yannick Boris, a student in the Juvenile Justice programme at ILPD, said: “There are different initiatives, child protection laws around juvenile justice that have been developed. The family being the wellspring of behaviours and discipline, everyone in the community should be held accountable, when it comes to protecting a child.’’

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Justice: Juvenile cases doubled in past four years – lawyers’ association