Inquiry into Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system

We support national reforms to improve early intervention, prevention and diversion away from harmful and ineffective punitive responses and towards supportive and evidence-based community support programs that work. Early intervention, holistic support for families and access to trauma-informed restorative justice programs are critically important to support the recovery of children and young people and promote improved outcomes for children, their families and the community.

We ask that the Senate Committee recommends that the Australian Parliament:

• Raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 with no exceptions in line with the Raise the Age coalition and Change the Record’s recommendations.
• Ensure no children are detained in adult prisons and raise the age of detention to 16.
• End the over-representation of over-policed groups of children in criminal legal systems by implementing recommendations from Smart Justice for Young People’s Working Together Action Plan.
• Reform youth bail laws by implementing Poccum’s Law.
• Ban the use of spit hoods, strip searches and isolation for all children in detention.
• Appoint a National Taskforce responsible for rolling out systemic improvements across all states and territories in line with Australia’s international obligations consistent with the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Help Way Earlier report.

The National Youth Justice Inquiry is a critical opportunity to lift baseline standards for the policing and detention of children and young people across all states and territories.