Browsing by Author "Imran Ahmad Sajid"

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    Child Protection and The Juvenile Justice System in Pakistan: A Case Study of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
    (Department of Social Work, University of Peshawar. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2015) Imran Ahmad Sajid; Supervised by Prof. Dr Amir Zada Asad
    This research explores the juvenile justice system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Juvenile justice is a policy area that focuses on child welfare in the area ofcriminal justice. Research on juvenile justice system in Pakistan has remained dismal though. This thesis, based on qualitative research methodology, explores how the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance-2000 has played in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Central thesis ofthis research is that there is a significant gap between the theory and practice ofthejuvenilejustice system in Pakistan, based on many groundsincluding religious as well as cultural. The juveni'e justice like most other social policies is a transplanted institution. Throughout this thesis, it was found that juvenile justice means different things to different people. The legal documents are hardly followed in practice. Police officers use discretionary powers in extending benefits or otherwise, of JJSO to an offender. Prosecutionrarely, ifever, raises the question ofage of the offender. There is no difference in adult and a juvenile trial for prosecutors. Courts use the same procedures and methods as used for adults. There are a significant nvember of offenders in prison. The probation officers have meager resources to perform this extra duty as a protector of the rights ofthe child involved in criminallitigationsat all stages. This study found that the law-in-the-books did not have anyreal relationship with what presently happensin police stations, the courts, probation services, and prison settings. The thesis concludes by arguing that this basically represents a failure in the institutional transplantation of ideas and systems that have not worked in the Pakistani context. The answer, it is suggested, is synthesis of ‘old’ and ‘new’ practices around the world—-.e. restorative justice or greater reliance upon practices that better coincide with the religious, cultural and normative codes of Pakistani society.