Jump to content

Abolition of Corporal Punishment Act, 1997

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abolition of Corporal Punishment Act, 1997
Parliament of South Africa
  • Act to provide for the abolishment of corporal punishment authorised in legislation; and to provide for matters connected therewith.
CitationAct No. 33 of 1997
Enacted byParliament of South Africa
Assented to28 August 1997
Commenced5 September 1997
Status: Spent

The Abolition of Corporal Punishment Act, 1997 (Act No. 33 of 1997) is an act of the Parliament of South Africa that abolished judicial corporal punishment.[1] It followed the Constitutional Court's 1995 decision in the case of S v Williams and Others that caning of juveniles was unconstitutional. Although the ruling in S v Williams was limited to the corporal punishment of males under the age of 21, Justice Langa mentioned in dicta that there was a consensus that corporal punishment of adults was also unconstitutional.[2]

The act contains two substantive sections. The first provides that "any law which authorises corporal punishment by a court of law, including a court of traditional leaders," is repealed to the extent that it authorises such a punishment. The second makes specific textual amendments various statutes, including the Black Administration Act, the Magistrates' Courts Act and the Criminal Procedure Act, to remove references to corporal punishment.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Section 13: The abolition of JCP". Judicial Corporal Punishment in South Africa. World Corporal Punishment Research. 2005. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  2. ^ S v Williams and Others [1995] ZACC 6 at para. 10, 1995 (3) SA 632, 1995 (7) BCLR 861 (9 June 1995), Constitutional Court (South Africa)
[edit]