The Office of the Children's Advocate is raising concern about the fact number of children who appear before the courts and plead guilty to criminal offences without the benefit of legal representation.
The issue was raised during a press briefing on the organization's Special Report to Parliament on children and violence on Friday.
Nicole Wright, Legal Policy Officer at the Office of the Children's Advocate, says data collected over a three month period show that a large number of children who go before juvenile courts on criminal matters have received no legal advice.
Ms. Wright says her office has successfully assisted several nationals and non-nationals in receiving bail and returning some to the custody of their relatives.
However, those who have no legal representation are left at the mercy of the courts.
"There's a chance of intimidation, the child is so afraid to say no your honour, I did not steal that cell phone and there's no intervening person there to turn to the child and say your honour may I have a word. It is if I'm there or my counterpart is there, (but) outside of that, you have the situation where the judge asks the mother if she can question her child who then says yes I did it," Ms Wright said.
She also attributed the problem to several challenges plaguing the justice system, some of which the Government has moved to address.
One of the issues is the recent refusal of legal aid attorneys to take on additional cases due to millions owed to them by the government.
"Children courts in many of the rural parishes don't sit everyday as the courts in the Corporate Area, and because of the number of matters that come before the court, there's a huge backlog. I know that the Chief Justice has recently given more dates to the circuit courts, so I think the children's courts will sit maybe three times for the month but given the numbers, it's not enough and cases set for trial never happen because there are other mention matters," she added.
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