Court debates state of children whose mothers get jail terms.

Byline: FRANNY RABKIN

Court debates state of children whose mothers get jail terms Law and Constitution Writer THREE lower courts had not inquired into the best interests of the children when it sentenced a woman to five years in prison for fraud, the Constitutional Court heard yesterday.

Counsel for Mavis Steyn, Adrian Friedman, said courts had a duty to specifically inquire into how sending someone to prison would affect their children. This was because a previous Constitutional Court judgment (State v M) held that there should be a change in judicial mind-set when sentencing people who were children's primary care-givers. Instead of focusing on the accused person, …