Section 74 of the Children Act however still leaves the door open for children between the ages
of 14-16 to be sent to a prison in certain cases. Where a magistrate declares that a person
between the ages of 14-16 has an unruly or depraved character and cannot be safely detained in a
‘detention centre’, they may be sent to prison.157 This is contrary to Article 37(c) of the CRC
which requires states to ensure that children deprived of their liberty are treated in a manner
which takes into account the needs of a person of their age and adult prisons are ill equipped to
deal with children in this manner.158 Additionally no protection is offered to persons between the
age of 16-18 and they are liable to be detained in ordinary prisons as by virtue of the legislation
they are not subject to juvenile justice laws, procedures and policies.
The domestic legislation therefore offers some measure of protection to children as defined in
Trinidad and Tobago. This protection however ends at 14 and involves a large amount of
discretion on the parts of magistrates and police officers. This illustrates that persons between the
ages of 14 to 16 are afforded protection different to those under 14, and whether they are
imprisoned or not is discretionary. This is below the international standard, which prevents
imprisonment of all people under 18, however as Article 1 of the CRC allows for countries to set
their own age of majority, the legislation does not breach treaty obligations. This illustrates that
although the international human rights instrument go a long way in affording protection to
children there are still some deficiencies.
In a Caribbean Juvenile Justice Assessment159 conducted by USAID, in assessing the exercise
of discretion of magistrates, it was stated that “magistrates allegedly exercise their discretion in
seeking to interpret the law in ways that are more rehabilitative than retributive but there are
several serious limitations that negatively impact the outcome for juvenile offenders”.
It was reported that “approximately fifty per cent of juveniles who appear before the criminal
court have neither legal representation nor support from a parent”. Another issue of concern was
delays, which increase the length of trials and cause children in conflict with the law to be held
on remand while awaiting trial. It has also been reported that “some children in Trinidad and
157
Supra fn 14 at s 74(b)
Supra fn 1 at Article 37(c)
159
Bertrand Laurent, Dr. Annmarie Barnes, Tania Chambers, Sherrian Gray , 'Caribbean Basin Security Initiative
Juvenile Justice Assessment, Final Report' (USAID.gov 2011)
[accessed 13 March 2013]
158
91