Australia’s youth justice system must be transformed to better protect communities, reduce offending and address the needs of children, the Human Rights Commission says.
Among the commission’s 24 recommendations set out in a report are raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 across all states and territories, banning solitary confinement and consistently monitoring all child detention facilities.
Authorities across the nation were approaching youth justice the wrong way, National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds said.
“We put a lot of attention and resources into the justice system with more policing, building more children’s prisons, locking up more children,” she told AAP.
“We’ve been getting tougher and tougher and spending all that money at the justice end, it’s not helping.”
On an average day there are 4542 children under youth justice supervision across the nation.
More than half (57 per cent) of children under youth justice supervision are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Children who had contact with the justice system often faced poverty, insecure housing, domestic and family violence, health and mental health issues, disabilities, systemic racism and intergenerational trauma, the commission found.
“We seem to just wait until there’s some kind of crisis or a crime that’s been committed before we do anything much for these kids,” Ms Hollonds said.
The report was based on submissions, interviews and consultations, including with 150 at-risk youths.
It recommended investing in restorative justice diversionary programs, child-specialist courts, better training, improved data collection and investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled organisations.
The commission also recommended the establishment of a national task force to lead justice reform across the nation.
“The problem lies much earlier and we need to redesign the early warning systems of health and education based on evidence,” Ms Hollonds said.
“That’s not a problem the states and territories can solve on their own.
“The work on genuine evidence-based prevention of offending and reoffending needs to be done together.”
