In 2002 the Children's Rights Project at the Community Law Centre commissioned research on the incidence of children committing sexual offences in South Africa. A research report was completed that analyses some custody, arrest and reporting trends in relation to children and sexual offences.
During 1995, a draft Child Care Amendment Bill, aimed at amending critical and problematic areas of current child care and protection legislation, was circulated by the Department of Welfare and Population Development. This Bill was criticized from various sectors for its piece-meal approach to law reform.
As South Africa moves through the process of transition, the laws that regulate the way in which children are processed through the juvenile justice system has come under systematic and comprehensive review.