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Media Release: Jailing is failing – Senate inquiry into youth justice recognises critical need for Commonwealth leadership

Justice Reform Initiative Media Release, 12 September 2024

The establishment of Australia’s first nationwide inquiry into youth justice and incarceration is a significant and welcome milestone in efforts to make child justice, safety, and well-being a national priority. The move recognises the urgent need for Commonwealth leadership to address Australia’s failing youth justice systems.

Justice Reform Initiative executive director Dr Mindy Sotiri welcomed the motion for a Senate Inquiry into Youth Justice and Incarceration, led by Senator David Shoebridge and Senator Dorinda Cox, and unanimously carried by the Senate on Wednesday. The inquiry will investigate the outcomes and impacts of child incarceration across Australia, the over-incarceration of First Nations children, and the systems' treatment of the human rights of children in detention.Importantly, the report, to be tabled by November 26, will for the first time examine the Commonwealth's international obligations in regard to youth justice.

“This nationwide inquiry is significant recognition by the Senate of the need for Commonwealth leadership,” Dr Sotiri said.

 

“The treatment of children in detention is one of the most significant human rights issues facing Australia. Countless inquiries, reports, and media exposés into the state of youth justice in Australia have found that the rights of children in detention are not upheld. For decades, the states and territories charged with the administration of youth justice have failed to keep children safe

 

“But the failure of youth justice is not just about the states and territories failure to uphold the rights of children in detention. It is about the failure of the states, the territories and the Commonwealth to address the social drivers of children’s incarceration.”

 

“It is a national responsibility to ensure that there are systems, services and supports available to all Australian children who need help, and to ensure that the rights of the most vulnerable children are upheld. Too many children around Australia are managed in prisons, rather than receiving the support and care and opportunity they need in the community” 

“We congratulate Senators David Shoebridge and Dorinda Cox for bringing this motion to the Senate and driving systems change”

The announcement for this inquiry comes after the tabling in Federal Parliament last month of the National Children’s Commissioners report ‘Help way earlier!’ How Australia can transform child justice to improve safety and wellbeing’. This report outlines in detail the devastating state of the justice system for children in Australia. The report makes the case for reform that is based on evidence and human rights and also calls for child justice, safety and well-being to be made a national priority. The report specifically calls for:

 

  • The establishment of a National Taskforce for Child Justice Reform
  • The establishment of a National Cabinet Minister for Children
  • The establishment of a Ministerial Council for Child Wellbeing, chaired by the Minister for Children and reporting to National Cabinet.

Speaking in the Senate on Wednesday, Senator Cox said: “Jailing is failing in this country, and it's not just a hashtag. This is about our children and the fact that we have the opportunity—the responsibility—to stop youth justice equalling incarceration and jailing the next generation of our children."

For more information and a list of patrons of the Justice Reform Initiative visit https://www.justicereforminitiative.org.au/.

Media contact:  Amy Price 0437 027 156

 

The Initiative respectfully acknowledges and supports the current and longstanding efforts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to reduce the numbers of Indigenous people incarcerated in Australia and, importantly, the leadership role which Indigenous-led organisations continue to play on this issue. We also acknowledge the work of many other individuals and organisations seeking change, such as those focused on the rate of imprisonment for women, people with mental health issues, people with disability and others.

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