DEKYAS NEWS World Breaking News and Trusted Source
Related Articles
Key points
- An investigation into the lives of children caught in the youth justice system has been released by NT Children’s Commissioner Shahleena Musk.
- The findings come days before the NT government plans to rush justice system reforms, including reducing the age of criminal responsibility to 10.
- More than three-quarters of children in the study had mental health needs or cognitive disabilities.
Young people is the result of a ‘failed’ child protection system, according to research by a watchdog.
A study into the background and life experiences of 17 children under the age of 13 and imprisoned in the has been released by NT children’s commissioner and Larrakia woman Shahleena Musk.
Many of the detained youth could have been released from prison had they not been neglected by the child welfare system, Musk’s report found.
The findings come days before the NT government plans to quickly implement a series of ‘law and order’ reforms, including lowering the law back to 10.
The commissioner urged the government to consider “the urgent need for evidence-based and therapeutic responses”, echoing calls from many in the legal and medical sectors.
“I implore the Northern Territory government not to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 10 and pause other proposed reforms that will impact vulnerable children,” Musk said.
“Instead, work to improve responses to at-risk children and their families sooner.”
Each child involved in this audit had significant and ongoing contact with the child protection system, she said, with one child being the subject of 70 reports of harm.
“These vulnerable children are bearing the consequences of a failed service delivery system,” Musk said.
“The result was that young children ended up in detention after missing multiple opportunities to intervene earlier in their lives,” she said.
The 17 children were the subject of a total of 456 reports to child protection. At least fifteen of them suffered damage, some multiple times.
Nearly three-quarters of children in the NT youth justice system come from the lowest socio-economic areas, the report said.
Young people in detention told researchers that their parents need more support.
“They should support the parents more, they should give vouchers for food and clothing for the children,” said one young person.
Musk’s report refuted ideas that the former Labor government was “soft on crime”.
Not only did the NT have the highest percentage of convicted children in custody in 2022/2023, she wrote, but they also remained under supervision for up to 218 days, behind Queensland at 227 days.
“This evidence shows that if tough action on crime really worked, the NT would be the safest place in Australia.”
More than three-quarters of the children had psychological problems or cognitive limitations, and 47 percent of the children had multiple diagnosed cognitive limitations.
“It is unacceptable that children living in high levels of vulnerability end up in detention,” she said.
“Their unmet disability, trauma and mental health needs should have been identified and addressed earlier outside the justice system.
“Incarcerating children with disabilities and poor health and mental health poses serious risks to their well-being and future.”
