Victoria’s youth legal service Youthlaw is urging all parties to commit to evidence-based early intervention and community supports that prevent youth crime in the first place, warning that detaining children for low-level offences is untested and risks doing more harm than good.

Today, a new proposal was announced to lock up children who commit low and mid-level offences in secure facilities, 24 hours a day, for up to 12 months. It is billed as an Australian-first, for 500 children to be detained at a cost of $204 million. In practice, this will mean removing children from their families, schools and communities younger and earlier, for less serious behaviour.

We agree that children in the early stages of getting in trouble with police should have access to more education, mental health, housing, and alcohol and drug treatment support. Through our frontline services, we see how often these children have experienced violence, mistreatment and poverty, and have been failed by systems not resourced enough to help them early.  

Lee Carnie, CEO of Youthlaw, said more punitive responses after the fact do not create community safety. Instead, Victoria needs greater investment in evidence-based community supports that prevent youth crime in the first place.

“Removing children from their families, friends, schools and communities for minor theft or graffiti risks doing more harm than good. Youth detention increases, not decreases, risks of future offending by children.”

“We absolutely support intensive, therapeutic and tailored healthcare and education for children experiencing complex challenges. But to be sustainable and effective, these supports should happen in the community and strengthen children’s connections to family and education, not weaken them.”

The critical opportunity for all parties is to intervene earlier, before patterns of offending become entrenched.

This means investing in:

• Early and accessible youth legal and social supports that address the issues driving children’s contact with police and criminal legal systems.
• Community-based supports that keep children connected to the people who care about them, including education, housing, disability, mental health, and alcohol and other drug supports.
• Diversion and restorative justice programs that promote accountability, repair harm and provide meaningful opportunities for change.
• Culturally safe, trauma-informed and evidence-based policy responses, particularly for children experiencing multiple and intersecting forms of disadvantage.

“Calling something rehabilitation does not automatically make it rehabilitative. Locking children away from the people who love them and the places where they live will create new barriers to reintegration.”

“We will not create safer communities by locking up more children in need of support. We create safer communities by preventing harm, addressing the drivers of offending and giving children genuine opportunities to change their lives.”

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Youthlaw is Victoria’s specialist free legal service for young people under 25. We support children and young people at the early stages of criminal justice engagement whose charges are not serious enough to be eligible for legal aid.

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Casey Dean
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