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Social Background Investigations for the Children's Court

Social Background Investigations for the Children's Court AUST & NZ JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (June 1976) 9 (109-122) 109 SOCIAL BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN'S COURT Bernard C Cairns 0 The modern children's court is a manifestation of the notion that offending children should not be treated as criminals but instead should be rehabilitated by social assistance and guidance. In this role the court has become a dispenser of personalized justice, that is, justice to suit the needs of the offender rather than the offence. To enable the court to make orders which satisfy such a criterion, the legislation creating the court has granted specific power for the court to obtain quite extensive social background information concerning each defendant. In the present article the Tasmanian system is described and major statutory references will therefore be to the Child Welfare Act 1960 (Tas.) as amended. Under the Tasmanian Child Welfare Act it is provided that children found guilty of offences shall not be treated as criminals. This is made clear by s 4 of the Act; which is -a general statement of legislative policy, reinforced by s 15, where the functions of child welfare officers are described. By s 15(1) a police officer who lays a complaint charging http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology SAGE

Social Background Investigations for the Children's Court

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Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
Copyright © by SAGE Publications
ISSN
0004-8658
eISSN
1837-9273
DOI
10.1177/000486587600900207
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AUST & NZ JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (June 1976) 9 (109-122) 109 SOCIAL BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN'S COURT Bernard C Cairns 0 The modern children's court is a manifestation of the notion that offending children should not be treated as criminals but instead should be rehabilitated by social assistance and guidance. In this role the court has become a dispenser of personalized justice, that is, justice to suit the needs of the offender rather than the offence. To enable the court to make orders which satisfy such a criterion, the legislation creating the court has granted specific power for the court to obtain quite extensive social background information concerning each defendant. In the present article the Tasmanian system is described and major statutory references will therefore be to the Child Welfare Act 1960 (Tas.) as amended. Under the Tasmanian Child Welfare Act it is provided that children found guilty of offences shall not be treated as criminals. This is made clear by s 4 of the Act; which is -a general statement of legislative policy, reinforced by s 15, where the functions of child welfare officers are described. By s 15(1) a police officer who lays a complaint charging

Journal

Australian & New Zealand Journal of CriminologySAGE

Published: Jun 1, 1976

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