Knowing Children’s Right and Laws Can Help with Cases

Joshua Dankoff

Consultant Joshua Dankoff says the training in children’s rights and the law is important for security forces. He says that there are many instances where the training can prove to be quite valuable in getting children to cooperate and to respect their rights.  The training can also help to strengthen officers’ work so that cases don’t simply fall apart because officers failed to follow procedures when dealing with children. Dankoff tells us more.

Joshua Dankoff, Consultant

“We were just finishing a conversation about unaccompanied immigrant children who the B.D.F. may come in contact with near the border and walking through what are the correct ways they can refer that case and treat the child to social services working with police and immigration and making sure that child’s rights are being maintained and that their relations with their family are maintained as much as possible. So, these are real situations and real situations happening out in the field and we are trying to use as many case studies as possible and really draw from the knowledge of the people in the room.”

Andrea Polanco

“What are some of the common challenges you have heard from the participants that they have encountered when dealing with children?”

Joshua Dankoff

“I think especially for children in conflict with the law, there are challenges around crime and when a child is accused of wrong doing it is really important – even though there are important public safety considerations – we are talking about the importance of protecting your child’s rights and treating them well; making sure they are not mistreated while in detention and that is gonna help the case move forward in the correct way and not have the caution statement or the case thrown out. It is also going to have an impact on how that child grows up and sees not just the police but the entire government and their citizenship formation. So, do we want our young people growing up to respect the government and the processes and believe in the justice system or find that it is illegitimate.”

The training will be followed up next month with another session for the twenty-five participants.