5. The Committee is clear that we should not be romantic about children in our country or ignore the extent to which children, especially older children, subjectively choose to commit crime, and they must therefore be held accountable for their actions; nor should we downplay the State's responsibility to ensure the safety and security of both the potential victims of crime by children and the society as a whole. But we are equally clear that we should avoid an "exceptionalism" that borders on suggesting that SA children, basically African children, are inherently worse than children universally and are incapable of being rescued from a predilection to committing crime; which in effect borders on neo- racist theories. It is in striking a path between these two extremes that the Portfolio Committee's approach is directed.