A major public storm erupted recently in Victoria about the government's proposal to locate a new juvenile justice detention centre at Werribee in the city's south west. Locals saw it as demeaning to their neighbourhood, and public pressure forced the government to change the location.
In my view, it's not the site that's wrong, but the whole idea. We have already seen across the nation that putting hundreds of behaviourally disturbed kids of different ages with different needs in one prison-like institution is a recipe for further trouble.
We should have learned that from riots and other violence, at the Cleveland Centre in Townsville, Don Dale in the NT, Parkville, Malmsbury and Barwon in Victoria, Banksia Hill in WA, or Kariong in NSW.
This is only likely to continue while we keep trying to impose a failed adult corrections model on kids. We need to treat them differently because they are different: their emotional maturity, impulse control, and social connectedness are incomplete.
Many of the kids in the juvenile justice system have been abused, come from dysfunctional families or state care, or have untreated behavioural, mental health or substance abuse problems.
Warehousing them in the punishing idleness of a prison regime and expecting passive compliance, let alone any recovery, is fanciful. I have recently begun to think about how we could respond to these kids in a holistic way, with a strong emphasis on prevention and diversion. The proposals below relate specifically to the current system in Victoria, but the principles generalise easily.
The first priority should be the establishment of a world-class young peoples forensic assessment and treatment service. It would work in all four areas of a holistic youth justice system. In prevention and diversion, it would develop programs to support schools, school support services, police, families and local and cultural communities. In supervision and intervention, it would identify not only the needs of young people, but also the level of risk they pose to themselves and others.
Much of the expertise to undertake these tasks already exists. The pressing need is for clear policy direction, excellent clinical leadership, strong coordination, adequate resources and refocusing.
"Doing some or all of this, or more, will be expensive. But at least it has some chance of not being good money thrown after bad, which is what a continuation of the current model will deliver in wasted lives."
For young people who are charged with multiple or serious offences, this service would