- Published:
- Tuesday 6 August 2024 at 10:25 pm
We welcome the introduction of the Youth Justice Bill 2024 (Vic), which will make a positive difference for children and young people, their families, and our community.
We want to see a strong community where children thrive. This happens when children and young people are supported and are positively engaged with their friends, family, school, workplaces, and the community. To achieve this, prevention and diversion are key.
Too often we see that children who are involved in the criminal legal system are those who most need support. Most of the children we work with experience significant challenges, including poverty, trauma and systemic barriers to mental health and disability support. Many are victims of violence or abuse. We see families who struggle to find the support and help their kids need. And we see that systems which are meant to support children and families can sometimes let them down.
Due to these experiences, these children are often excluded or disengaged from school and employment, and many are in contact with the child protection system.
When children offend, we see how support and connection – not jail – work best to help children stay engaged in positive activities and behaviour and keep our communities strong.
The guiding principles of the Bill appropriately acknowledge that when children and young people are properly supported, they have a unique capacity for rehabilitation and positive development.
‘We see the Bill as an opportunity to do better for children and young people by prioritising rehabilitation and appropriate supports – strategies that are backed by evidence,’ said Kate Bundrock, Acting Executive Director of Criminal Law.
‘While further reforms are necessary to achieve the Bill’s intentions, this is a big step in the right direction. Making these changes will help reduce offending by children and young people and divert them way from the criminal legal system.’
Youth justice changes for the better
The Bill rightly calls for a focus on prevention, diversion and minimum intervention to keep children and young people away from the criminal justice system, with custody used only as a last resort.
We welcome the Bill’s guiding principles recognising that children are developmentally distinct from adults and have a unique capacity for positive change when given the right supports.
‘Putting kids behind bars does not work,’ said Kate.
‘The younger a child is at their first sentence the longer they are likely to be involved in the youth justice system and to spend time in prison as an adult.
‘The appropriate response is to support change in behaviour in every interaction with the justice system, including at sentencing, so that we give the highest priority to rehabilitation and positive development.’
The path forward must be First Nations-led
The Bill includes a statement of recognition which acknowledges that inequality, and structural and institutional racism exist in Victoria, resulting in First Nations children and young people being over-represented in the criminal system.
Additional guiding principles specific to First Nations children and young people, are aimed at addressing the systemic factors contributing to this inequality by upholding First Peoples right to self-determination through partnerships and community-led initiatives that are proven to result in better outcomes for First Nations youth and the community.
‘We know that First Nations designed and delivered is the best pathway to supporting our kids to thrive, away from the criminal justice system,’ said Ashley Morris, Director of First Nations Services.
‘While specific recognition of historical and systemic racism within the Bill is important, we need to see an active dismantling of systems and attitudes that perpetuate racism against First Nations children and children from communities of colour.
‘With the right changes the Bill could present a real opportunity to act on the roadmaps already provided by community including Wirkara Kulpa, recommendations of Our Youth Our Way report and Burra Lotjpa Dunguludja (AJA4), and ensure all Aboriginal children and young people live happy and healthy lives, strong in culture and connected to community and the supports they need to thrive.’
Delivering on intention
In our view, the intent of these reforms to support young people and reduce contact with the criminal justice system would be more thoroughly achieved with the following changes. We continue to advocate to government for these reforms.
Raising the minimum age of responsibility to 14 without exceptions
We continue to advocate for the age of criminal responsibility to be lifted to 14 without delay, in line with international standards and the evidence base on child development.
There is clear evidence that children under 14 do not have the maturity to be held criminally responsible for their actions.
No new police powers for kids aged 10 and 11
We do not support new police powers in respect of kids aged 10 and 11. We know that any engagement with the criminal justice system causes harm to children. We are particularly concerned about the impact of these proposed new powers on First Nations children, children of colour and those in out-of-home care.
In our practice experience and based on available data, when police exercise discretionary powers they do so in a way which results in disproportionate contact with, and impact on these children.
Police already have powers to deal with children who they believe are at serious risk of harming themselves or others. The proposed new powers are not needed and instead replicate arrest and detention for children who have not committed a crime.
While the Bill proposes to give the Commission for Children and Young People an oversight role after police have used the powers, we remain concerned about risks to children’s safety and wellbeing when the powers are used. We are particularly concerned about:
- the power to transport a child to a police station and keep a child in a police station without any maximum time constraints
- the powers to use force, restraints and conduct a search of a child.
Abolishing police veto on diversion
Diversion is one of the most effective ways of reducing youth crime and every effort should be made to increase access to diversion programs so more children can benefit.
In our experience, the ability for police to veto diversion results in inconsistency and discriminatory outcomes for First Nations children and those from culturally diverse backgrounds.
The courts are best placed to determine whether a child should be referred to the diversion program taking into account all the circumstances of the case, as they do for any other outcome in the Children’s Court.
To ensure more children can access the therapeutic benefits of diversion without barriers or delay, we agree with recommendations by the government’s own review of youth justice legislation and the Yoorrook Justice Commission that the police’s right to veto should be removed.
Better support and supervision for children on bail, not electronic monitoring
We support an enhanced bail supervision and support service and continue to call for a presumption in favour of bail for all children and young people as previously earmarked for inclusion in the legislation.
We do not support electronic monitoring of children on bail. There is no evidence that electronic monitoring of children on bail works.
Based on our experience in the sector, electronic monitoring bracelets will only serve to stigmatise children in their schools, workplaces and communities. This undermines the Bill’s intent to minimise stigma to children in contact with the criminal justice system.
What is needed is intensive and tailored supports to help children and young people comply with bail and make positive changes.
No children in adult prisons
Prisons are unsafe places for children. Children should be treated as children and should not be held in adult prisons.
Transferring kids aged 16 and 17 to adult prison undermines the core principle of the Bill that children are to be treated differently to adults in the criminal justice system, which is also a key human rights principle under the Victorian Charter and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Despite the significant impact on the child, the Bill does not allow for legal representation for children when these transfer decisions are made.
More information
Updated