Opposition Senator Damion Crawford is lamenting that the Child Diversion Bill is not focused on youth development, which would deter young people from being in conflict with the law.

According to him, the bill addresses the problems that occur, after the child has done something contrary to the law, rather than putting measures in place to prevent these incidents from taking place.

Speaking in Senate this morning Mr. Crawford said, the concept of the bill is a good one, however, more work needs to be done.

He also explained that the systems are not in place to ensure that if a child has to be placed in a child diversion programme, the end results will be more positive than negative.

Senator Crawford noted one area where the system would possibly work against the bill.

The Child Diversion Bill seeks to enable the implementation of child diversion measures, in dealing with children who come in conflict with the law.