About this workshop:
South Africa’s child justice legislation was implemented over ten years ago, but the rather significant amendment, raising the minimum age of criminal capacity, signed by the President in 2020 is yet to be implemented. Being a fairly complex piece of legislation which includes a rebuttable presumption of criminal incapacity, the burden on expert witnesses conducting the assessments is a substantial one, that should not be taken lightly. Considering the ramifications of the findings for children and adolescents, the implications for society, and the pressures on the police and criminal justice sectors, psychologists involved in these assessments need to adopt a balanced approach that is developmentally based. The presentation critically examines the legislation, the requirements of psychologists, the latest research evidence on the subject, the approaches to conducting the examination, and the ethical imperatives guiding such work.
PsySSA Workshop Series 2022: Workshop 4: The serious issue of assessing children’s criminal capacity
Meet our Presenters
Anthony Pillay, PhD is an Associate Professor and Principal Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Behavioural Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal & Fort Napier Hospital. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the South African Journal of Psychology and his research areas include women and children’s mental health, forensic psychology and social justice issues. He received his post-doctoral training in Maternal and Child Health at Harvard, and is a Past President of the Psychological Society of South Africa.
Anne Kramers-Olen obtained her Masters degree in Social Science (Clinical Psychology) from the then named University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg campus). She completed her internship at the Midlands Hospital Complex in Pietermaritzburg during 1998 and is currently employed at Fort Napier Hospital, which provides specialised forensic mental health services in terms of the relevant legislation. She conducts forensic mental health examinations of awaiting trial individuals, pre-sentencing assessments, assessments of children in conflict with the law, as well as rape survivor and other witness competency examinations referred by the courts. She also provides psychosocial rehabilitation interventions to State Patients. She has worked in the public and private sector, and has published papers in the area of ethics, forensics, intellectual disability and psychosocial rehabilitation. She is an associate editor of the South African Journal of Psychology and honorary lecturer at the Department of Behavioural Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal.