Pre-trial diversion: A blessing or a curse?

JUSTICE minister Ziyambi Ziyambi recently launched a national pre-trial diversion (PTD) programme aimed at advancing a non-custodial system for child offenders to ensure that the mistakes of youths would not stalk young people for the rest of their lives.

Currently, people under 18 in Zimbabwe can be jailed, although the Prosecutor-General has the power to halt the imprisonment of juvenile offenders.

The PTD programme, which was first introduced in 2009, will see child offenders no longer subject to incarceration, but will be placed under rehabilitation.

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