Submission in response to the paper ‘Safer Street Crime Action Plan- Youth Justice’.
The Law and Justice Institute (Qld) Inc. submits that:
1. Detention should continue to be a last resort for children being sentenced for a criminal offence.
2. Children should be named by courts only in exceptional circumstances.
3. Breach of bail should not be a criminal offence for children.
4. Courts should not be able to access a person’s juvenile criminal history when sentencing that person as an adult.

These issues are discussed further below...

A new bill before the Massachusetts Legislature would change how 17-year-olds are tried and sentenced. When it comes to incarceration, Massachusetts has recognized 17 as the age of adulthood since 1846. Of course, anyone who has a 17-year-old might question that assumption, as have citizens in 38 states across the U.S. Even some states we think of as far more conservative than Massachusetts—Arizona, Alabama, and Mississippi, for example—send lawbreakers younger than 18 to juvenile instead of adult court...

Read more...

National Children’s Commissioner Megan Mitchell has called on Queensland authorities to end their policy of sentencing 17-year-old offenders to serve their sentences in adult prisons.

Ms Mitchell said that Queensland is the only jurisdiction to allow this policy.

‘Sending 17-year-olds to adult prisons is actually a contravention of Australia's obligations under the Convention for the Rights of the Child,’ she said.

‘That convention, which nearly every country in the world has signed, specifically notes that children have particular developmental needs and requirements and need to be treated differently than adults, and that includes 17-year-olds.’

Ms Mitchell, who is currently touring Australia to speak to children and child advocates, urged the Queensland Government to divert prisons funding into programs that promote school retention, training and employment, and programs that support families and people dealing with drug abuse.

(Source: Youth Field Xpress June)

Australia’s spiralling rate of youth detention is creating ‘intolerable social and financial burdens’ and represents a clear failure of public policy, a new report from the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition (AYAC) has warned.

In its report, Insights from the coalface: The value of justice reinvestment for young Australians, AYAC condemned an overuse of jail by courts and by state justice agencies, which was failing to reduce criminal behaviour, and which signified the failure of youth justice policy, past and present.

The report points to evidence of a rise in juvenile incarceration since 2004, and a jump in the number of young people on remand. There was also a critical lack of services available for crime prevention, early intervention and diversionary measures for young people, particularly in rural and remote areas. It costs more than $600 a day to keep a young person in youth detention – almost double the cost of adult detention.

AYAC calls for policy to reflect the extensive knowledge and good practice of the sector, and to ensure incarceration and remand is not the affliction of our most disadvantaged. AYAC wants to see marginalised young people getting the right support prior to contact with the justice system, rather than bearing the brunt of ‘tough on crime’ policies.

The Justice Reinvestment approach is being used in Australia by some services to great effect. However, the current climate in Australia means that most of these services, while doing important work, are piecemeal, under-resourced, and targeted at specific needs, as opposed to the comprehensive, coordinated Justice Reinvestment approach.

The report is available for download from the AYAC website: http://www.ayac.org.au/news/230/67/The-value-of-justice-reinvestment-for-young-Australians.html

(Source: Youth Field Xpress, 22 May 2013.)

This week AYAC launched a new report, Insights from the Coalface: The value of Justice Reinvestment for young Australians based on consultations with over 150 youth sector workers around Australia. The report calls for action as concerns grow at escalating rates of incarceration of young people, coupled with a worrying lack of support services for young people who are coming into contact with the justice system.

AYAC calls for policy to reflect the extensive knowledge and good practice of the sector, and to  ensure incarceration and remand is not the affliction of our most disadvantaged. We want to see marginalised young people getting the right support prior to contact with the justice system, rather than bearing the brunt of ‘tough on crime’ policies.

Youth services and leading advocates from around Australian have united on the issue, endorsing AYAC’s report.

The report follows from a submission made to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs inquiry into the value of a justice reinvestment approach to criminal justice in Australia, to whom AYAC will be providing the endorsements and further evidence today.

You can download a full copy of the report and see who's endorsed it so far by going here: http://www.ayac.org.au/news/230/67/The-value-of-justice-reinvestment-for-young-Australians.html

Source: AYAC April Newsletter

Premier Campbell Newman announced on Sunday that boot camps for convicted youths will be open in Townsville, Rockhampton and on the Fraser Coast by September, along with two other camps, one operating on the Gold Coast and one opening soon in Kuranda.

Brisbane Times has reported that young people will spend four weeks at the camps cooking, cleaning, doing physical activities and studying while under constant surveillance. Mr Newman says they will be given an opportunity to turn their lives around under the guidance of mentors and their families.

The five boot camps will be trialled for two years.

Brisbane Times report:
Fraser Coast - http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/news/itll-be-hard-yakka-to-get-boot-camp-funding/1803897/
Rockhampton - http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/boot-camp-youth-pcyc-volunteer-state-government/1804131/

 The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has published the results of a study into the skills and training for supervisory staff that are most effective in preventing young people from reoffending.

Effective community-based supervision of young offenders contains the results of a study in which 46 NSW Justice Department staff were observed during interview sessions with 117 young people, whose ages ranged from 12 to 18.

The study found that there is a marked relationship between the use of rewards by supervisors and low reoffending. It also found that a strong client–worker relationship was important for effective supervision, as was a non-blaming approach. The findings of the study will have implications for the recruitment, training and roles of those who work in the youth justice system.

Download this AIC Trends and Issues in Criminal Justice paper no. 448 from the AIC website: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi.html

(Source: Youth Field Express, February 2013)

The Australian Parliament is asking for submissions to their inquiry into the value of a justice reinvestment approach to criminal justice in Australia. 

Justice reinvestment diverts some of the money spent on locking people up and puts it into communities where there is a high concentration of young offenders, reinvesting the funds into education, programs and services that address the underlying causes of crime in these communities.

The inquiry will look at a number of issues, including:

• the economic and social costs of imprisonment,
• the over-representation of disadvantaged groups within Australian prisons, and
• the cost, availability and effectiveness of alternatives to imprisonment, including prevention, early intervention, diversionary and rehabilitation measures.

If you know of any great prevention and early intervention services that work with young people, their families and their communities to achieve better outcomes and lower crime rates, then make their stories and successes known! You can make your own submission  by 15 March 2013 via the website below, or get in touch with Jacqui here at AYAC to be part of our joint submission with youth peak bodies around Australia.

For more information on the inquiry, go here - http://tinyurl.com/ay69kgd

To be part of the AYAC submission, contact Jacqui (jacqui@ayac.org.au) as soonas you can (and no later than Friday, 15th February 2013).

Source: AYAC enews 31/1/13   

The Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian has released its advocacy paper setting out a basis for contesting the justification of the current policy to continue to detain 17 year olds in adult correctional facilities. The policy appears to be predicated on the following:

• 17 year olds in adult correctional facilities are there because they commit the most serious crimes
• Use of an adult correctional facility is the only way that these young people can be held responsible for their actions
• Adult correctional facilities will protect the community from 17 year olds who are in adult correctional facilities, and
• 17 year olds know the difference between right and wrong.

In the Commission’s view, relevant research and evidence does not support the current position on this issue and the policy continues Queensland’s breach of its international legal obligations.

The Advocacy Paper discusses the Commission’s intention to seek the support of the Australian Government to implement the Australian Human Rights Commission’s recommendation to the Committee on the Rights of the Child for Australia to withdraw its reservation to Article 37(c) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

View the full advocacy paper (PDF, 505KB)

 A report that shows statistical evidence of the link between child abuse, neglect, homelessness and juvenile justice supervision has just been released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The 46-page report, Children and young people at risk of social exclusion: Links between homelessness, child protection and juvenile justice, found evidence to support the fact that young people in one of three areas (Supported Accommodation Assistance Programs, juvenile justice supervision, and child protection) have an increased risk of being involved in the other two areas.

For further information, and to download the report, go to: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=60129542237 Printed copies of the report can also be purchased from the AIHW.

(Source: Youth Field Express, ACYS)