Impact of "Kids' Court" on traffic infraction recidivism in Dar es Salaam: A novel approach to a troublesome problem.
rct · Level II
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 42225506.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1016/j.injury.2026.113399.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
Road Traffic Injuries are a major problem in Sub-Saharan Africa. Recidivism after road traffic infraction has not previously been studied in this setting. This study evaluated a novel elementary school based program to reduce repeat minor traffic offenses near schools by having children serve as "judges" to rhetorically interrogate offenders. Offenders were randomly allocated into standard penalties or participation in Kids' Court (412 total) and followed via quarterly interrogation of a traffic police database for 1 year. While the number of repeat offenders was similar in both groups (88 vs. 85, p = 0.84), the total number of offenses was improved in the Kids' Court group and approached significance but did not achieve it (344 vs. 404, p = 0.065). The average time to first repeat offense was significantly decreased in the Kids' Court group (127 vs. 154 days, p = 0.0019). This program reduces the number of repeat offenses and lengthens the time to repeat offense. It likely has a yet unquantifiable long-term effect on the children that participate as "judges" in the program.