Offenders and their Rights

     Written by: Muhammad Anwar Andar

Aneesa and Arif are the guests of Lalo Mama. Lalo Mama arrives later and says that he has gone to visit some offenders. Anisa asks aren’t offenders criminals. Lalo Mama replies that offenders and criminals are different.

Arif asks the differences. Lalo Mama takes them to the castle and there he opens a window for their information.

Window:

In the window, the reporter of the castle asks some juveniles about the word “offender”. Azazullah, a resident of Nangarhar province says: “offender is the one who breaks the law; commit a robbery, murder and so on.”

A girl says: “when minors commit crimes, they call them offenders not criminals and they could not be sent to jail.”

The reporter says that if minors (under 18) commit a crime, they call them offenders, not criminals and they would be kept in juveniles’ rehabilitation centers (JRC) not in jail and they have some rights in JRC.

The reporter asks some juveniles about the right of offenders in JRC.

Khairulnisa, a student of the experimental school, Kandahar city says: “when juveniles are sent to JRC they are treating as children in a family. The authorities of the JRC should prepare them a place for playing and they should continue their studies and should not be beaten or threaten.”

Another girl says: “the offender should not be punished because he/she is minor and he/she should study in JRC.”

Then the reporter of the castle talks to a child rights expert, Katib Shinwari, a resident of Jalalabad city, Nangarhar province.

Shinwari says: “any kind crime that children commit like a car accident, robbery, smuggling and so on, is an Infringement not a crime. If a child kidnaps another child, he/she is an offender, not a criminal because he/she is not a young person yet and he/she could differentiate good from evil and other person/persons encourage him/her to commit a crime and when they are rested, they should be sent to JRV but those whose ages are more than 18 are called criminals and they are sent to the jail.

Children in JRC have the following rights: the rights of playing, learning lessons, learning skills or an occupation, visiting family members, those whose crimes are minor could spend night at homes and during the day, they could learn something in JRV but someone of his/her relatives should guarantee his/her coming back to JRC.”

Lalo Mama closes the window. Arif asks Lalo Mama if the children in JRC could get their right or not.

Lalo Mama opens another window for their more information.

Window:

In the window, a child says to the reporter of the caste: “I have a fight with another boy and I harmed him with a knife. The police arrested me and took me to the JRC. In the JRC, we had to pray; study our school lessons; eating foods three times daily; visiting our family once a week, and learning an occupation. If we had any problem, we were sharing it with the JRC’s director and he was solving it.”

Lalo Mama closes this window too and asks his guests to share the information with their friends too.