NSW’s juvenile justice system must change

News that the NSW Government has classified a report on the state’s juvenile justice network as "cabinet-in-confidence" for the first time in more than 20 years speaks volumes about the health of the system.

While the Attorney-General has confirmed the report will be released in a fortnight’s time, the fact its contents are so sensitive suggests it portrays NSW’s juvenile justice system in a state of utter disarray.

There has been a 40 per cent increase in juveniles on remand in NSW – that is, young people detained while waiting for their day in court – over the last two years.

Overcrowding has become so commonplace there are reports teenagers are being forced to sleep in detention centre visiting rooms and that the government is spending $2400-a-day to keep underage youth in police cells and paying police $100 an hour overtime to guard them.

Combined with the fact that young Indigenous people make up more than 56 per cent of all juvenile detainees in NSW and I think it’s fair to say we have a problem on our hands.

Putting young offenders in custody is not only expensive but ineffective – more than half of those released from detention will re-offend.

And the younger a person is when they first enter the juvenile justice system the more likely they’ll return as they get older.

When you look at the population of juveniles in custody, almost half report some form of serious abuse in their past, including violence and neglect.

Do we really think detaining a young person with that sort of background is an appropriate response to their problem?

These are dismal outcomes. They’re even worse when you consider how much we pay for the privilege.

It costs the NSW Government roughly $150,000 to keep a young person in custody for 12 months.

The time has come for the NSW Government to change course on juvenile justice, to recognise that its current approach neither serves the community nor the young people caught up in the system.

We can’t go on the way we have been. The government’s current approach seems to be less about doing what works and more about appearing to be tough on crime.

Mission Australia encourages the NSW Government to reduce the number of young people – particularly young Indigenous people – in detention and set targets that can be monitored.

And achieve this by putting fewer resources into locking young people up and more funding into ‘diversionary programs’ – programs that help divert a person from entering, or re-entering, the juvenile justice system.

To read Mission Australia's latest report on Juvenile Justice, Young people and the criminal justice system: New insights and promising responses, click here to view or download from our website.