Cutting crime via education
A COLLABORATION of groups concerned about atrisk youth has called for the State Government to adopt a soft approach on young offenders.
Balanced Justice is a network of concerned community and church groups calling for an evidence- based approach to youth justice policies.
Network member and national director of Edmund Rice Education Australia Youth Plus Dale Murray said shifting offenders out of detention centres and into education was the best way to address youth crime.
“There’s young people that really struggle to maintain connection to mainstream education,” Mr Murray said.
“What I would really encourage all the governments to think about would be to look at evidence- based practice in supporting young people in re- lation to policy. Really ensuring that education is central to any rehabilitation or any opportunity to re- engage with society.”
Mr Murray said locking kids up just didn’t work, but neither does simply granting them bail without placing them in programs.
He said a flexible learning approach, such as the Burragah Program, currently operating with a small group of children recently out of Cleveland Youth Detention Centre, was the type of initiative that government should be funding and getting at- risk youth into.
Mr Murray was critical of the LNP’s plans to build a second Youth Detention Centre for North Queensland and introduce a curfew on children under 16 in Townsville.
Townsville convener with the Amnesty International Community is Everything campaign Jeanie Adams said a preventive approach was the way to break the cycle of youth crime. She said providing children with a positive environment, good education and sense of belonging was vital.
She said employment opportunities needed to be offered to young people coming out of the justice system to steer them away from crime.
“Give them something meaningful to do rather than stealing cars,” Ms Adams said.
Balanced Justice has issued 12 recommendations for political parties. They include increasing diversion and cautioning from police, ensuring young people are not placed in detention as a substitute for appropriate child protection and building authentic relationships with offenders and indigenous elders for the purpose of rehabilitation.