Today the ABC aired a special report on 17 year olds in prison, which begins "On any one day in Australia a thousand young people are behind bars. In most states and territories, young criminals are dealt with under the juvenile justice system until they turn 18. But not in Queensland where many 17-year-olds are serving time in adult jails. Seventeen years ago the State Government promised to change the outdated law but youth advocates are still campaigning for that to happen."

This is a significant media report into 17 year olds in prison.  YANQ's director, Siyavash Doostkhah, is interviewed to represent YANQ's perspective on the rights and safety of young people in detention.   Karen Struthers, Minister for Community Services in Queensland, also contributes to the discussion, along with solicitor Damien Bartholemew and Debbie Kilroy of Sisters Inside.  Listen to this report, or read the full transcript, here.

Jailing young people in ever larger numbers is not the answer to tackling youth crime according to a professor from the London School of Economics.

In a recent opinion piece in the UK's Guardian newspaper, Prof. Rod Morgan argues that the costs of jailing more and more young offendors are far too high.

The article is available online at http://society.guardian.co.uk/youthjustice/comment/0,,2016087,00.html.

In this editorial piece the New York Times argues that: "The United States made a disastrous miscalculation when it started automatically trying youthful offenders as adults instead of handling them through the juvenile courts."

Read the full story online at the New York Times website.