Victoria – This is Not Who I Want to Be
Peninsula Community Legal Centre has devised as innovative way to try and address the issues facing their catchment communities. The program involves using theatre performances with professional actors to tell the story about the impacts of family violence and forced marriage in order to educate teenagers who may be experiencing these situations. It is designed for secondary school students in the Casey area.
The program was formed in response to data showing that teenage girls were already experiencing controlling relationships and family violence and that some were going on to forced marriages after leaving school.
For the past five years, Casey has recorded one of the highest rates of family violence in Victoria and the program works on breaking the cycle of violence and the attitudes that support it.
Queensland – Blue Lures Fishing Program
This program was set up by two Queensland Police Service officers. It is a fishing program for at-risk youth aged eight to 17 in the St George area.
The officers involved have said that “the program has had an incredible impact on the kids in St George… they want to talk to us now and realise we’re just normal people”.
Programs such as this help strengthen community ties and build bridges between youth and police. You can read more on this program at this link.
Queensland – Pathways to Prevention Program
This project was a collaboration between Griffith University, Education Queensland and Mission Australia which operated from 2002 until 2011, with the project team finding an enriched preschool program reduced the number of court adjudicated youth offender by more than 50%, and when combined with a support program for parents and families, up to 100%.
Co-researcher Emeritus Professor Ross Homel said expensive, punitive youth crime policies do not make the community safer. “Our study shows it is possible to address some root causes of serious youth crime while respecting children’s human rights.”
You can read more on this program at this link.
Queensland – programs on the horizon
The Queensland LNP has announced during its election campaign two different early intervention programs for youth in Queensland. Now that the LNP has won the election, we expect these programs to be rolled out.
The Regional Reset program can be read about here.
The Staying on Track program can be read about here.
2024 Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards
On 12 November 2024, 9 projects were recognised for their contribution ti the prevention of crime and violence in Australian communities.
The This is Not Who I Want to Be and Pathways to Prevention programs mentioned above both won awards.
To read about other innovative programs in this space, please see the Australian Insitute of Criminology’s press release here.