Legal Protection and Health Rights of Child Offenders within the Juvenile Justice System in Tanzania

Abstract

This article examines the legal protection and health rights of child offenders within the juvenile justice system, focusing on the adequacy of the legal and institutional frameworks governing their treatment, rehabilitation, and reintegration. It adopts a doctrinal legal research methodology based on the analysis of international, regional, and domestic legal instruments, judicial decisions, policy documents, official reports, and relevant scholarly literature. The study draws principally on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), the Law of the Child Act, Cap. 13 R.E. 2023, and related juvenile justice legislation. The findings indicate that Tanzania has established a relatively comprehensive legal framework that promotes child-centred justice and rehabilitation. However, effective implementation remains constrained by inadequate juvenile justice facilities, limited healthcare and mental health services, weak institutional capacity, shortages of trained personnel, and ineffective diversion and rehabilitation programmes. The article concludes that strengthening institutional capacity, expanding health and mental health services, and promoting community-based rehabilitation and reintegration are essential to ensuring effective protection of child offenders' rights.