Children - Legal advice

Legal Advice for Children

Here you can find out more about the law in any of the following situations. For example, what are your rights at school, or what are your rights if you have broken the law? These are just general outlines.

Please contact us if you have any questions, or require more assistance.

Dr Ann Skelton
Tel: +27 12 420 4502
Fax: +27 12 420 4499
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Breaking the Law

You need to remember that if you are in trouble with the law that you still have the right to be treated fairly and with respect. This includes being given the opportunity to get your life back on track, and to make the wrong that you have done right. The first offence may result in a reprimand, warning, diversion or charge.

Your rights include:

Not being tortured or, punished in a cruel inhumane way; and no person under the age of 18 may be given the death penalty or life imprisonment without possible release. But in South Africa there is no death penalty anymore.
Not being detained or imprisoned without good reason.
Should you be put in prison you must be treated with dignity and respect, you must be kept separate from adults, and your privacy must be respected.
You should be kept in prison for the shortest possible time. This means that you should be allowed legal help as soon after arrest as possible, and given a fair trial in court, if you are charged.

You need to also remember that you have the right to be seen as innocent until you have been proven guilty. You cannot be forced to speak in court, or forced to say that you are guilty. You are also allowed to question people who give evidence against you, call a person to give evidence on your behalf, and have everything that is said in court explained to you in a language that you understand.

This is a very brief overview of your rights when in trouble with the law.

Protection from Abuse

You have a right to be protected from any kind of abuse, from anyone who might try to hurt you physically or emotionally.

This includes being protected from exploitation – for example where you are forced to work for little or no money.

You should also be protected from any sort of sexual abuse. This includes watching pornographic material, being forced to take part in a sexual act (like being touched in a place you don’t want to be touched, or being asked to touch someone else), being forced to have sex with someone else, or even being forced to become a prostitute.

This could be caused by someone you know very well. But it is still not right. It is okay to say no, and it is better to tell someone you can trust, as soon as possible. Remember, that you are not to blame.

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Latest News

Mud schools to get millions rand revamp
6 February 2011

It has taken all of 17 years, but the pupils and staff at Tembeni Senior Primary School have finally been guaranteed a proper school. On Friday afternoon the Eastern Cape department of education reached an R8-billion out-of-court settlement with seven schools, of which Tembeni is one. The schools had taken the department to court to force it to provide adequate resources. Most of the schools were built from mud and lacked the most basic resources.

Ann Skelton, director of the Centre for Child Law who took up the schools case, said yesterday although only seven schools had brought a case against the department, they were fighting on behalf of all inadequate schools. “It means that finally when the process is completed the children will be taught in decent schools. It is what they should have had all along. We were simply getting their basic rights for them. “There have been promises before, but now I have more faith that it will happen,” Skelton said.

Sarah Shepton from the Legal Resources Centre in Grahamstown, acting on behalf of the Centre for Child Law, said: “Our clients are relieved and delighted with the outcome of the litigation and intend to keep a close eye on the developments, so that promises are not broken.”
Granville Whittle, director of communications in the department of basic education, said the national department would take over the responsibility of providing infrastructure to schools in dire need, as part of its accelerated school infrastructural development initiative.