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      The Constitutional Protection Afforded to Child Victims and Child Witnesses while Testifying in Criminal Proceedings in South Africa

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          Abstract

          The protection of child victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system is of vital importance, as present-day research studies conducted on the victimisation of children in South Africa show that South African children in particular experience and witness exceptionally high levels of crime, and consequently represent a significant portion of the victims and witnesses that have to appear in court to testify about these crimes. This contribution consists of an in-depth discussion of the rights of the child victim and witness encompassed in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 in order to determine whether the current protection afforded to child victims and witnesses while testifying in criminal proceedings in South Africa is in line with South Africa's constitutional obligations. In this regard the general constitutional rights in the Bill of Rights relating to child victims and witnesses as well as the specific constitutional rights of child victims and witnesses in section 28 of the Constitution are discussed.

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          Most cited references15

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          "An Individualised, Contextualised and Child-centred Determination of the Child's Best Interest, and the Implications of such an Approach in the South African Context"

          J Heaton (2009)
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            "The Abused Child: A Few Rules of Evidence Considered"

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              "Constitutional Law: Recent Cases"

              W Freedman (2010)
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: ND
                Journal
                pelj
                PER: Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad
                PER
                North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus) (Potchefstroom, North-West Province, South Africa )
                1727-3781
                2019
                : 22
                : 1
                : 1-50
                Affiliations
                [01] orgnameUniversity of South Africa bekinm@ 123456unisa.ac.za
                Article
                S1727-37812019000100025
                10.17159/1727-3781/2019/v22i0a5774
                734b58db-6666-4701-967d-db14a3c73049

                This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

                History
                : 22 May 2019
                : 22 May 2019
                : 24 November 2018
                Page count
                Figures: 0, Tables: 0, Equations: 0, References: 42, Pages: 50
                Product

                SciELO South Africa

                Categories
                Articles

                State obligations,Protection of child victims and child witnesses,constitutional protection of child victims and child witnesses,children's rights,section 28(1) of the Constitution of South Africa,section 28 (1)(d) of the Constitution of South Africa,section 170A of the Criminal Procedure Act,intermediary,secondary victimisation

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