PAPUA New Guinea, in common with many other developing nations, boasts a large and growing population of youths and children.
And as with many other countries, a proportion of the youngsters gets into trouble.
In many cases that trouble is not markedly criminal in nature; in others, murder, rape and armed assault are savagely present.
Catholic church clergy and lay workers, and in particular those of the Sacred Heart order, have poured heart and soul into establishing and maintaining PNG’s only properly organised juvenile detention centres.
These are places where kids who have brushed with the law, some as young as eight, can begin the road to a happier and more productive future.
There are three of these establishments in PNG and they have been a feature of this country for decades.
Boys Town at Wewak is legendary; it has long been in operation and its services to the community are matched by similar establishments at Erap in Morobe and at Hohola in the capital.
These facilities are used to house selected juveniles who have been found guilty of offences in court; some degree of criminal liability begins at seven years of age in PNG.
We were reminded of these juvenile facilities by yesterday’s welcome news that the Hohola Juvenile Justice Centre had been presented with a new 15-seat bus through the Department of Justice. This appears to be a splendid piece of co-operation between two arms of the justice system in our country.
The centre can cater for up to 16 youths aged between seven and 18 and many come from the expected backgrounds of broken families, abusive parents and homelessness.
The donation of the K65,000 bus was part of an on-going project to bring about change in the juvenile justice system in PNG.
The Department of Justice has been playing a significant if low profile role in this process.
The idea is to get young offenders away from the formal justice system, make use of community-based correction programmes and involve young offenders in gaining some basic education
Part of the initiatives includes an on-going exposure to counselling and voluntary community and religious work.
How important are these initiatives?
We regard them as vital and we regard the work of the Sacred Heart order as pivotal in the development of a whole new outlook for PNG’s troubled juveniles.
Our population growth continues to explode. That means more and more children and youths peopling our villages, towns and cities each year.
That could be something to celebrate if PNG was a perfect society.
As it stands it is taxing the already sagging networks of non-government organisations that have long borne the brunt of supporting juveniles within the community.
From time to time in the recent past, the Hohola facility has been close to shutting its doors, leaving no options for courts other than to sentence juveniles to jail.
Our overcrowded and often poorly monitored jails are no place for juvenile offenders.
Often they re-appear in society as hardened criminals, brutalised after even a short exposure to the PNG penal system.
Successive governments have paid scant attention to the needs of these three outposts of sanity for juveniles. Funds have dried up and often they have remained open only because of the Sacred Heart brothers and lay workers determination that they must remain open.
It appears that for the moment such an eventuality has once again been held at bay.
But for how long and to what extent will the government continue to provide even a low level of assistance?
Here again is an area for private enterprise to support and enrich.
Employment is one possibility for those who have grown while in these facilities and can now move on to enjoy the future.
So too are sponsorships for courses, or the part-time employment of the more senior juveniles as part of the process of developing their skills.
Members of the community based corrections unit of the Department of Justice and of the national juvenile justice working committee both deserve the highest praise for their on-going concern over the issue of juvenile criminals.
We commend the initiatives and wish all concerned well in their reform programme.