A task force looking into children's matters has recommended that the state establishes child protection units in all police stations.
The units will among other functions be used as holding facilities - just like cells - for children who happen to be in conflict or contact with the law in Kenya.
Other clients of the CPUs include a child lodging a complaint or abuse, a person lodging a complaint against a child, and children in need of care.
They units are customised to be child-friendly. They are used to hold children for a maximum 24 hours as their cases are determined.
Launching documents prepared by the Special Taskforce on Children Matters, Justice Martha Koome who chairs the team described the arrest of children as a last resort of trying to mend their misdeeds.
Justice Koome described the state of the current children holding facilities as devastating.
In Kenya, a child as young as eight years old is liable to the criminal offence.
To be more practical, it simply means a child in Class 2 is liable to stand trial for a criminal charge.
Education CS George Magoha has also emphasised the same in the wake of arson attacks in schools, warning students and called on law enforcement officers to take stern action.
But the task force thinks this is not the best route to take when handling these children who are ‘different’ as put Justice Koome.
“Children coming through the justice system do not get justice,” Koome said on Wednesday during the launch.
Instead, the task force in a document titled 'diversion toolkit for child practitioners' recommends that before a child is taken to court, those handling the matter should consider alternative solutions.
This includes solving the matter through an understanding so the child can evade being charged or going through the formal justice system.
This could be conciliation mediation or reconciliation.
Florence Omondi, the Kenya Prisons Service representative, said the county has three facilities to detain young offenders. The facilities are called borstal institutions.
Of the three, one serves female children while the remaining two are for male children aged between 14 and 17 years.
Another correction facility in the country, are the youth corrective centres, designed for those aged between 17 and 21 years.
They hold them for a maximum of four months.
However, Omondi also raised concerns of children who are non- offenders but accompany their mothers to jail. They include those born in jail and those younger than four years old.
She asked the Judiciary to consider putting such women under home arrest.
According to one of the reports once a child is ‘arrested’ they’ll be privileged to medical services for those who might need care or treatment.
The child will also have the chance to get legal aid through the various channels in society, including pro-bono, national legal aid scheme, and Law Society of Kenya, among others.
The units will also have ICT officers to deal with issues of cybercrime or abuse, and officers to support children with special needs.