Lex Hall; 5/10/09
Northern Territory police are denying Aboriginal youth offenders access to diversionary programs, according to a group of Darwin legal advocates. The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency said a recent study on youth crime highlighted the “appallingly disproportionate” contact Aboriginal people had with police compared with non-Aboriginal people. NAAJA said Aboriginal youths were not given the same chances as non-Aboriginal youth to participate in diversion. “With only 41 per cent of Territory youths being offered these alternatives to court, compared with as much as 71per cent in some other states, many young people who should be diverted from the criminal justice system are not being diverted,” the group said in a statement last week.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26165291-5013404,00.html
Senior judge, Dean Reynolds, slams youths’ treatment
Debbie Guest; 5/10/09
Western Australia’s juvenile justice system is in crisis and desperately needs more resources to reduce the number of children being detained, according to the head of the state’s children’s court. Children’s Court president Denis Reynolds said if the system continued without more prevention and diversion programs, crime rates among children would increase rapidly. “I think we’re in a position of crisis quite frankly,” he told The Australian. “We can’t keep going the way we’ve been going without the necessary supports.” According to Australian Institute of Criminology figures published in The Australian on September 26, the number of juveniles in detention in WA on any given day had risen from from 118 in 2004 to 139 in 2007.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26165290-2702,00.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Human Rights