NCJ Number
121254
Journal
Police Studies Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1989) Pages: 82-95
Date Published
1989
Length
14 pages
Annotation
In 1980, the Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, meeting in Caracas, Venezuela, set out several basic principles that it felt should be reflected in a set of rules to be developed for the administration of juvenile justice in order to protect the fundamental human rights of juveniles in trouble with the law.
Abstract
The rules could then serve as a model for United Nations Member States in the treatment of juvenile offenders. The Congress recommended that the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control, a standing committee of the Economic and Social Council, be requested to develop such rules. During the years that followed, the Committee formulated the draft rules in collaboration with the United Nations Social Defense Research Institute, the United Nations Regional Institutes, and the United Nations Secretariat. They were endorsed, in principle, by regional preparatory meetings for the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, and amended and agreed upon at an Interregional Preparatory Meeting held in Beijing, China, from 14 to 18 May 1984. Presented by the Economic and Social Council to the Seventh Congress, Held at Milan, Italy, in August and September 1985, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (known as "The Beijing Rules") were approved on 6 September 1985 by the Seventh Congress, which recommended them to the General Assembly for adoption. The Assembly adopted the rules on 29 November, annexing them to its resolution 40/33. The Rules, adapted to the aims and spirit of juvenile justice systems in all parts of the world -- i.e. systems within diverse national settings and legal structures -- set out what was accepted to be good general principle and practice in the administration of justice for juveniles. They represent the minimum conditions which are accepted as suitable by the United Nations for the handling of juvenile offenders under any system of dealing with such persons. Commentaries accompanying the text were intended to be read as an essential part of the document. The rules and commentaries are reproduced herein. (Publisher abstract)