Aspiration #8 Aspiration 8: Children benefit from a child-sensitive criminal justice system. By 2020, States – • should have legislated the minimum age of criminal responsibility to be 12 years or above; • should have adopted and implemented legislation explicitly requiring the separation of children and adults at all points of detention; • should have introduced a system for expediting investigations and prioritising cases where the defendant or any victim or witness is a child; • should have programmes in place to ensure that judicial personnel, law enforcement agents and other professionals involved in the criminal justice system are sensitised to provide child-friendly services; • in collaboration with national partners, should have embarked on a campaign to sensitise professionals and the general public on the importance of a child-friendly and a rights-based approach in the justice sphere; • should have enhanced the capacity of law enforcement agencies to ensure accountability to children; • should have abolished the use of the death penalty in respect of offences committed by children; States should have ensured that the death sentence may not be imposed on pregnant women or the mothers of young children; • should have taken special measures allowing for diversion and restorative justice in respect of children; States should be referring children to juvenile justice institutions where they can learn skills and be reintegrated into society without compromising their psychological or physical well-being; • should have reviewed sentencing procedures in order that a non-custodial sentence is always considered when parents or primary caregivers of children are being sentenced; States should be providing for appropriate alternative care for children whose parent or primary caregiver is imprisoned; States should have established special institutions to house children in prison, under very exceptional circumstances when non-custodial measures cannot be considered, and it is in a child’s best interests to live with a parent or caregiver in prison; • should have set up alternative measures to pre-trial detention, such as bail and written notices to appear at court; • should have developed reliable mechanisms for collecting accurate, disaggregated data on the practice and administration of criminal justice for children, including 53