 Whilst direction is provided to Family Courts to ensure proceedings are as informal and non-adversarial as possible, there are no similar formal and express guidelines governing the procedures in Magistrate’s and High Courts hearing matters involving child offenders. Both the Child Justice Strategy and the National Juvenile Justice Strategy call for the development of a protocol for the judiciary handling children’s matters. Whilst this has not yet been developed, many of the magistrate’s and High Courts have made special arrangement to make the environment more friendly and not intimidating, especially for victims and child witnesses. For example, at the magistrate’s courts, the magistrate sits on the same level as the child rather than on an elevated bench. And cheerful colors are used in furnishings. Space is also made available for social welfare personnel and for the family, and many courts have a separate mediation room. Often in the case of child witnesses, to protect their privacy their evidence will be heard in chambers and not in open court. Moreover, there is an informal process whereby GBV cases involving children are expedited and dedicated Saturday sessions reserved for cases involving child victims to ensure a speedy resolution of the matters. 406. Whilst the legal protection that is provided in principle, is quite extensive, in reality, resource and capacity constraints which are compounded by a number of legal gaps translate into the infringement of many of the preceding protections and procedures, with many of the planned structures envisaged by the Child Rights Act which are intended to improve access to appropriate justice not having been established. 407. Limited updated data is available on the number of children in conflict with the law. Historical data shows that the number of children in conflict with the law facing formal trial has increased 44 percent over three years: 3,678 in 2007 to 4,892 in 2008 and 5,309 in 2009 (Audet, 2010). Their right to due process is often undermined due to significant delays. While the minimum age of criminal responsibility is 14 years, some children aged below 14 are apprehended, interrogated by police, charged to court, and convicted. Children whose cases are charged to court often face months of proceedings before the matter is finally adjudicated. The average length of a juvenile trial that continues through to sentencing is 178 days. For cases of simple larceny, trials range from 81 to 212 days from January to July 2010. The average length of trial prior to discharge for want of prosecution is 61 days. Further, the vast majority of children do not have access to legal counselling. Consequently children are criminalized by the judicial justice system. 408. Diversion rarely takes place and children are still routinely sentenced to adult prisons despite it being illegal, usually when there is a conflict over the age of a young person. Extremely limited services are available to reintegrate children in conflict with the law back into their family and community. 409. Children awaiting trial are placed in two available Remand Homes and an Approved School. An assessment of these facilities confirmed there were 32 children in the remand home in Freetown, 11 in Bo, and 49 in the approved school. Despite some improvement in these facilities the conditions are rudimentary and access to education, psychosocial support, and recreation is almost non-existent. Access to alternatives to detention outside Freetown and Bo region are extremely limited with children awaiting trial and often spending months locked in the police cells, routinely mixed with adults. 9. Special Protection Measures  105