Assessment of the Juvenile Justice system in occupied Palestinian territory

This assessment provides an overall understanding of the Juvenile Justice system in occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and survey the constituent elements of the juvenile justice system in oPt, its strengths and shortcomings. It also highlights useful data to inform the design, development and implementation of comprehensive projects aimed at better responding to the rights and needs of juvenile offenders (or in conflict with the law) in the oPt, according to the specificity of this territory. This paper pinpoints significant gaps in the current juvenile justice system. Among the most important: lack of separate specialized, formal judicial system dedicated to juvenile offenders; lack of specialized police, prosecutors, judges; lack of qualified experienced staff across the whole juvenile justice sector; lack of coordination and communication between juvenile justice actors; no statistics and case management processes. It also highlights possible areas of intervention: Awareness-raising in the society/community and promotion of child specific needs and rights in the community; training of Juvenile Justice actors: implementing targeted activities to upskill conduct monitors and social workers involved in Juvenile Justice sector; providing structured intervention mechanisms for ‘at-risk’ children; developing diversion mechanisms from the formal judicial process.