This module is a resource for lecturers
Guidelines to develop a stand-alone course
This Module provides an outline for a three-hour class, but there is potential to develop the topic further into a stand-alone course. The scope of such a course will be determined by the specific needs of each context, but a possible structure is presented here as a suggestion.
The outline below assumes four separate classes, each two hours in duration.
Class 1 - Conceptualizing “justice for children”
- Exercise 1 – Media analysis and brainstorming on the scope of “justice for children” (30 mins). (This exercise has a pre-class component)
- Lecture on “Conceptualizing access to justice for children” (60 mins).
- Exercise 5 – Sector and stakeholder mapping (30 mins).
Class 2 – Child sensitive and rights-based justice
- Screen the following short videos:
- Pause after the videos, and ask students to reflect on the rights mentioned in the video. Lecturers might facilitate a plenary discussion that considers the following questions. Were students aware of the rights mentioned in the videos? What do each of the rights mean? (i.e. what does it mean for a child to be “informed?” How does the context influence the scope of this right? Lecturers might like to ask students to suggest the various contexts in which these rights might be engaged (prompting students to provide a broader range of examples than only criminal justice proceedings) (30 mins).
- Lecture on “Child Sensitive and Rights-Based Justice” (60 mins).
- Reflection and plenary discussion – students might be asked to write as many key points as they can recall, as to why specialized responses are necessary to achieving justice for children, and what specialized responses entail. In addition, lecturers might prompt students to list factors that facilitate effective justice responses, and those that impede justice for children. Allow 15 minutes for students to report back to the plenary for further discussion (30 mins).
Class 3 – Sentencing, detention, and alternatives to imprisonment
- Guided discussion on sentencing, detention and alternatives to imprisonment (45 mins).
- Exercise 2 - Restorative Juvenile Justice in Latin America – film screening and analysis (45 mins).
- Case analyses – Lecturers might divide students into groups and assign each group with a different case study. Students could be asked to report back to the plenary regarding the concept of “access to justice” for the children in each of the respective case studies. Where time permits, students might reflect on whether alternatives or preventive measures might have been implemented in each case (30 mins).
Class 4 – Justice for children – Case analysis and applied work
- Lecturers might spend time establishing the facts of a case, and the circumstances for the child involved in this case (this could be a fictional case, or one of the case studies) (5 mins).
- Exercise 5 – Stakeholder mapping (30 mins).
- Exercise 4 – Data sources (45 mins).
- Reflection (10 mins) - Students asked to reflect on what they have learned about multi-sectoral justice responses for children. Recalling the point that child sensitive justice systems require child friendly societies, students might be asked to reflect on what practical steps they might take in order to be advocates for children, consistent with the point, made by Marta Santos Pais (2005, p. 22), child sensitive justice does not exist in a vacuum, “but has to go hand-in-hand with the realization of a broader vision, that of a child-friendly society”. What steps can students take to achieve a child-friendly society?
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