Justification Of Punishment For Child Offenders In Malaysia: A Systematic Literature Review

In Malaysia, children in conflict with the law may be punished under Syariah or civil legal framework as to conform with the social norms. The Syariah and Civil courts in Malaysia practiced in the different structures, procedures, and jurisdictions as Malaysia practiced a dual system of law. Therefore, this article aims to identify the justification of punishment practiced by both courts in sentencing the child offenders in Malaysia. There are nine sources have been used as a database in screening the past research articles starting from years of 2010 until 2021. The systematic literature review consists of search strategies, study collection, data collection, and analysis for the articles obtained. A sum of 18 articles was assessed for eligibility through criteria such as year of publication, languages, and has met the required elements. This article indicates that both courts tend to impose a punishment consisting of rehabilitative methods to protect the best interest of the children. Thus, further research is needed to analyze the differences between Syariah and the Civil Court regarding implementing of rehabilitation theory as a justification of punishment for the child offenders in Malaysia