A Compulsory Research Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Award of Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Degree of Mzumbe University
The study titled “Effectiveness of the Juvenile Court in Protecting Rights of Juvenile Delinquents in Tanzania Mainland” intends to show to what extent the juvenile court protects the right of the juvenile delinquent in Tanzania. Though there are legislations that provides for those rights and have instilled them as part of the juvenile court procedures, still there is a problem of the juvenile courts in implementing the rights of the juvenile delinquents.
The study employed different methods of data collection namely, unstructured interviews in order to get accurate and flexible data from the respondents and documentary reviews for the purpose of reviewing what others have written on the subject matter with respect to this study and the gaps to which this study shall fill.
The study has shown the conceptual framework, legal and institutional framework with respect to the subject matter of the study so that the readers could be aware of the concepts involved in the subject matter, the laws governing the issues of the subject matter both international, regional, and municipal laws, and also the institutions responsible for implementing the provisions as stipulated by the law.
In collecting data, the study revealed the rights of the juvenile delinquents as expressed by the conventions and the Law of the Child Act, and it was averred that the juvenile courts as a institution established to deal with matters relating with children in conflict with the law have the obligation to implement these rights of the juvenile delinquents as it is part of the juvenile court procedures. And also the study revealed that the reason as to why juvenile courts fail to implement the rights of the juvenile delinquents is due to the prevailing challenges at hand and that the Law of the Child Act is not effective in protecting the rights of the juveniles.
This study recommends that for the sake of effective implementation of the rights of
the juvenile delinquents, application of different mechanisms in protecting the rights of the juveniles should be implemented. The government should also support the juvenile courts by giving out adequate funds for them to access facilities required in implementation of the rights of the juveniles.