An open letter to the Prime Minister to extend the Royal Commission into Youth Detention to all Australian jurisdictions has been signed by Australia’s juvenile justice experts.
QUT School of Justice Professor Kerry Carrington, said youth detention rates were increasing in the Northern Territory and Queensland and declining only slightly in some states and remaining stable in others.
“It’s a national problem and we owe it to these children to have a nationwide inquiry into youth detention and its alternatives,” said Professor Carrington who is a signatory to the letter with QUT’s Dr Kelly Richards, a youth justice expert.
“It costs $1,336 a night to keep a child in one of Australia’s 17 juvenile detention facilities.
“Youth detention is costly and, as much research has found, ineffective. If we used just a fraction of the $438 million spent on locking up children with early intervention program and custodial alternatives, we would have greater success at preventing and rehabilitating young offenders.”
Professor Carrington said custodial detention of young people should be used as a last resort, under the United Nations Convention the Rights of the Child to which Australia is a signatory.
“The over-representation of Indigenous youth in detention is a chronic feature found in all Australian jurisdictions, not just the Northern Territory.
“Indigenous youth make up 6 per cent of children aged 10 to 17 but comprise 54 per cent of all those detained across Australia.
“Social and historical inequality are underlying causes of Indigenous inter-generational incarceration.
“Australia can’t continue to expect to use incarceration of children as a way out of these complex social, cultural and economic problems.”
The open letter argues that more than half of young people in detention at any time are there on remand.
“This exposes children to short sharp bursts of incarceration by stealth.
“It widens the net, extends detention to young people who pose no risk to the community.
“It is a costly waste of taxpayers’ money because not only does it not work; it also turns juvenile offenders into hard-core recidivist offenders.
“What’s been exposed in the Northern Territory is not the product of a few sadistic people but reflects a toxic culture that makes brutalising children the norm.
“Although there is some scepticism that a Royal Commission will resolve these problems it will help forge a new culture in custodial environments and, more importantly, make detention a last resort.”
“If juvenile detention facilities have to exist, they should be run on therapeutic principles. Custodial environments are about control and containment but they do not have to be about brutality.”
Media contact: Niki Widdowson, QUT Media, 07 3138 2999 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au
After hours: Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au.
