NCJ Number
219075
Journal
Acta Criminologica Volume: 17 Issue: 2 Dated: 2004 Pages: 143-154
Date Published
2004
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Based on interviews with court personnel and women involved in court cases related to securing "maintenance" for their children's needs as custodial parents in the context of unmarried, divorced, or separated conditions, this study examined the operation of South Africa's maintenance courts.
Abstract
All of the court personnel believed that South Africa's Maintenance Act of 1998 protected women effectively; however, there was concern expressed that although the law itself was generally sufficient, it was not being fully implemented in practice because of a lack of specificity in certain provisions. Also, there was a consensus among the court personnel that the absence of maintenance investigators prevents proper implementation of the law. Lack of training for maintenance officers was identified as another impediment to effective implementation of the law. None of the women interviewed had difficulty in finding out about the court or her right to claim maintenance. The most alarming finding was that only 6 of the 40 women interviewed felt that they were protected in the process of claiming maintenance. Other common problems noted by the women were the failure of the men to appear in court and police failure to serve subpoenas on the men. Other problems mentioned were poor treatment from maintenance officers at court and the court's failure to manage and secure case documents efficiently. Nine recommendations are offered for improving the management and processing of cases before South Africa's maintenance courts. In October 2002, face-to-face interviews were conducted with three maintenance officers, three prosecutors, and three magistrates employed at the Johannesburg Family Court. In addition, 40 Black women were interviewed. They were all present at the court and were in the process of applying for maintenance. Also, 50 case files were analyzed. A 22-item bibliography