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Title:	A socio-legal study of police investigation on child abuse cases in Malaysia
Authors:	Tan Geok Mooi (P73956)
Supervisor:	Noor Aziah Mohd Awal, Prof. Dato'
Keywords:	Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia -- Dissertations Dissertations, Academic -- Malaysia Child abuse Child welfare Child abuse -- Law and legislation
Issue Date:	10-Apr-2021
Description:	Cases of child abuse are happening in Malaysia at an alarming rate but the defenceless children have not been given adequate protection, not even by the authorities or the legal system. It was only in recent years that the government, police and society have started to give more serious attention to address this scourge by introducing new laws, policies and programmes. This research aims to assess the efficacy of police investigation of child abuse cases and evaluate the success of the various programmes and laws in reducing the crime. The objectives of the research are to find out how well do the police investigate child abuse cases; to identify problems, weaknesses and shortcomings in the investigation procedures; and to evaluate the efficacy of laws relating to child protection in Malaysia. This was a social legal research adopting mix-method using primary and secondary data derived from face-to-face interviews carried out with fifty informants comprising police officers, medical officers, social welfare officers, prisoners and child victims or their family members. A set of semi-structured questionnaires were administered on the informants and the transcripts were then analysed using the ATLAS-ti software. The findings of the study show that there are many problems faced by the investigating officers, social welfare officers and medical officers (paediatricians, gynaecologists and child psychiatrists) in handling child abuse cases. Common problems include shortage of manpower, lack of skills, ignorance of law, and weaknesses in institutional support and interagency cooperation in handling child abuse cases. Shortage of manpower is a perennial problem in the Child and Sexual Investigation Division (D11), where non-Malay officers are badly needed to interview child victims of the same ethnicity. Some investigating officers are not well-equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to handle child abuse cases effectively. There is also unavailability of proper facilities in courts for child witness as well as child interview centres. The research also found that the requirement for officers who record child witnesses statements by video recording to produce the transcript of the original language used in the video recording plus a translation of the transcript under section 6(2)(a) & (b) of the Evidence of the Child Witness Act 2007 is impractical and burdensome to the recording officers. The research recommends that Section 133A of the Evidence Act 1950 that requires the testimony of a child witness to be corroborated should be amended and replaced with the judge may convict an accused-base on the uncorroborated evidence of a child witness, after considering all the evidence adduced before him and have warned himself on the dangerous in doing so Poor coordination and collaboration among the relevant agencies often give rise to poor investigation results besides causing extra trauma to child victims. The National Council for Children which is chaired by the Minister of the WFCD should play an active role to coordinate all agencies in child abuse cases and formulate SOP to ensure the agencies work closely and share accurate information with each other, and be kept abreast on the latest legislations and work procedures.,Ph.D.
Notes:	e-thesis
Pages:	361
Publisher:	UKM, Bangi
Appears in Collections:	Faculty of Law / Fakulti Undang-undang

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