Fears on health of held youths
THE swelling population of juvenile offenders is spending more time behind bars, with a majority simply waiting to see a magistrate.
New data has revealed child offenders are spending an average of 72 days behind bars, up from 66 days in the 2016- 17 financial year.
Leading criminologist Ross Homel, of Griffith University, said the spike was detrimental to the health of an already vulnerable group.
“Youth incarceration is serious … the health consequences are not pretty,” he said.
“It just highlights that you can’t reform the youth justice system and deal with these consequences for the young people themselves, without thinking more broadly about the communities they come from, the health system and the education system that have failed these kids.
“Why are they stealing? Why are they graffitiing or sleeping rough or doing drugs? It’s a combination of family life, community life and often the failure of the education and health system to respond in a timely way.”
Child Safety Minister Di Farmer attributed the increased length of stay behind bars to the sentences imposed by the courts and said a large portion of kids were in prison on remand.
“The evidence shows that putting a young person in detention almost guarantees they will offend again,” she said.
“We want fewer young people in detention because we want to break that cycle of reoffending. Young people need to be held accountable but the community also expects us to do everything we can to break that cycle to keep communities safer.”
The number of youth detainees has also increased, from 992 unique prisoners in the 2016- 17 financial year to 1032 in 2017- 18.
Those offenders spent a total of 65,872 nights in custody collectively in 2016- 17, and 74,229 nights in custody in 2017- 18.
It is understood the spike in population is largely attributable to the move of 17- yearolds back into the Youth Justice system.
Ms Farmer noted that the number of assault incidents between offenders and offenders against staff had fallen 40 per cent.
There were a total of 1197 incidents of assault and physical violence in 2017- 18, down from the 1688 the year prior.
“We have lifted the ratio of staff to young people in our detention centres,” she said.
“An extra 84 frontline staff, including specialist behaviour management staff, are being employed in youth detention centres to help reduce assaults and manage challenging behaviours, and make sure staff and young people are safe.
“We have reduced the rate of incidents through additional specialist behavioural management staff and increased training for existing staff in dealing with behavioural issues.”
The State Government’s youth justice strategy, which will direct how government, business and communities work together over the next five years, is due to be completed by the end of the year.