Latest News & Updates

Police charged over assault of teenagers

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/police-charged-over-assault-of-teenagers-captured-on-mobile-phone-20160112-gm47zp.html

Impressive action by a father of one of the teens. Most young people who experience serious mistreatment by police do not challenge it or lodge a complaint . This is because such complaints are dealt with internally by Victoria Police. Many senior Victoria police officers have told us they would prefer these incidents to be investigated independently of Victoria Police. They want to see abusive officers ( very often repeat offenders) appropriately dealt with.

In 2016 Youthlaw will continue to lobby the Victorian state government to provide  IBAC with the powers and  resources to investigate serious police complaints independent of Victoria Police. Until this occurs young people will be reluctant to complain about  abusive treatment by police.

Congratulations to all in the community sector who lobbied against the Federal cuts flagged in the 2014 budget that would have resulted in substantial cuts to frontline services and introduction of highlydetrimental policies including Centrelink waiting periods for unemployed youth. There are still huge gaps in basic services for young people , adequate  public education funding and early intervention and prevention programs.

We made some headway to divert young people from the criminal justice system with both major state gov’t parties committing to state wide youth diversion in 2014.  In 2015 we continued to lobby and we await the evaluation of 5 pilot programs and the state gov’t  fund it  state wide.

In 2015 we saw the  detrimental impacts  of a raft of  law & order measures introduced in 2014 (  a breach of bail offence , state wide move on powers and 900 new protective service officers on train stations) . Impacts included a significant  increase in young people on remand and in adult prison and mounting debt and court appearances due to  increased fines against young people. We saw the new Andrews Government address many of these drivers  through introduction of a bill to amend the Bail Act ( to be introduced to the Upper house in Feb 2016) , repeal of  ‘move on’ powers & strong public statements committing to a reductionin prison numbers. We also welcomed cross party support for the Royal Commission into Family Violence. We continued to lobby for a review and wind back of the Protective Service Officers numbers. We  continued to lobby for independent investigation of police complaints.

2015 saw a rise in youth unemployment and homelessness. Youth unemployment  reached its highest peak since 1998. Youth homelessness significantly increased – now almost half of all homeless people in Australia are under the age of 25.  This year research and data from youth services targeting youth homelessness and substance abuse has revealed a very high proportion of these young people have experienced family violence in childhood and many leave home to escape it.

As an organisation, Youthlaw has continued to make a substantial contribution to the rights of young people across the state strongly supported by  the legal community and the youth sector and the Smart Justice for Young People Coalition. With the assistance of a number of private law firms and barristers Youthlaw has been able to represent more vulnerable young people in court and to run significant test cases to promote the human rights of young people.

As always, sincere thanks to all in the broader community sector , our funders and stakeholders we have worked with . Thanks also to our Community law pro bono partner Ashurst, welcome to K&L Gates and thanks to Maddocks for assistance with our Supreme Court test case. We take this opportunity to thank our many volunteers and our voluntary Board.

Ariel Couchman
Director

In a landmark appeal decision, the Supreme Court has ruled this morning that IBAC must reconsider an alleged serious police assault in February 2009 to determine if it should be independently investigated by the watchdog rather than being investigated by police.

In 2010 the predecessor to IBAC – the Office of Police Integrity (OPI) – referred the complaint to police to investigate, a common practice which has been rejected by advocates as police investigating themselves.

 ‘This decision brings a further important opportunity for a fully independent investigation of these serious allegations, which advocates have been calling for since the complaint was first made in 2010,’ said Tiffany Overall, Human Rights Officer with Youthlaw, today.

The allegations include Mr Bare having his teeth chipped while being pushed into the gutter, being capsicum sprayed while handcuffed, and being racially slurred by Victoria Police officers in February 2009, when he was 17 years old.

The court found that the original referral of the complaint back to police by the then OPI breached section 38 of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities because rights set out in the Charter were not fully considered in its decision.

 ‘While IBAC could ultimately refer the complaint back to police for investigation, today’s decision will lead to greater scrutiny of such cases, and throws into the spotlight the need to fully consider the Charter.

 ‘An independent and robust investigation would ensure  fair outcomes for complainants, deter future human rights abuses, and instil greater confidence in Victoria Police,’ Ms Overall said.

Ms Overall said that while the decision represented significant progress, there was a need for further action because the decision did not find there is an automatic right to independent investigation of serious complaints against police under current Victorian law.

‘We now call on the Victorian Government to carefully consider this decision and to put in place the mechanisms and resources required to ensure all complaints of police misconduct are independently investigated,’ Ms Overall said.

 ‘The Victorian Government needs to strengthen legislative powers and resources of IBAC so that all investigations into police human rights abuses are conducted independently of Victoria Police.

Mr Bare brought the action because he did not have confidence in Victoria Police investigating his complaint due to genuine concerns that information about him or his complaint might be passed on to the officer involved, risking reprisals from local police.

Mr Bare was assisted to take his case to the courts through support of Youthlaw and pro bono assistance from private law firm Maddocks, and counsel Jason Pizer, Emrys Nekvapil and Fiona Spencer.

Bare v IBAC Court of Appeal judgment

Bare v IBAC Court of Appeal Summary

Ethiopian mans claim of police brutality and racism referred to IBAC Mark Russell, The Age, 29 July 2015

Nassir Bare to get independent investigation of racial abuse  Peta Carlyon, ABC News 29 July 2015

For media comment:

• Nassir Bare
• Tiffany Overall, Advocacy and Human Rights Officer, Youthlaw, on 0400 903 034 or
  Ariel Couchman, Director, Youthlaw, on 0438 812 937

For media assistance:

• Darren Lewin-Hill, Communications Manager, Federation of Community Legal Centres, on 0488 773 535.