Page 2056 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 2020
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(a) the Blueprint for Youth Justice in the ACT 2012-2022 has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of young people coming into contact with the Territory’s youth justice system;
(b) the ACT Government has invested in a number of programs to support at-risk young people, including through justice reinvestment initiatives such as Yarrabi Bamirr, the introduction of Functional Family Therapy, After-Hours Crisis and Bail Service, the Safe and Connected Youth project, the Intensive Diversion Program and the Muliyan flexible education program;
(c) in the 11 years from 2008-09 to 2018-19, only one young person under the age of 14 has been sentenced to a term of detention at Bimberi Youth Justice Centre;
(d) the detention of children under 12 is extremely rare, with four instances of unsentenced detention between 2008-09 and 2018-19; and
(e) the Attorney-General has approved the use of funds from the Confiscated Asset Trust to undertake a gap analysis to enable successful implementation of any change to the minimum age; and
(3) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) support raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years of age, taking into account medical and other relevant evidence and with consideration given to exemptions for serious offences;
(b) ensure that reform in this complex area engages with and enhances support services identified through the gap analysis, noting that keeping young people safe and diverting them from the justice system is a whole-of-government and whole-of-community responsibility; and
(c) continue to progress policy work and consider programs and resources that may be required in order for the Tenth Assembly to consider legislation raising of the age of criminal responsibility.”.
We know that no one program or service will address youth offending for every child. There is, rather, the need for individual tailored plans drawing together a pattern of interwoven supports. We know that the family supports for many of these children can be fractured and the types of interventions which require work require whole-of-government and, indeed, whole-of-community approaches. In order to be assured of that, our support services and our programs are being robustly and appropriately resourced to meet any challenges posed by the increase in the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
I have already approved funds of $120,000 from the confiscated assets trust for an independent gap analysis to be undertaken. The analysis will examine the journeys of young people who have come into contact with the justice system and the supports and the plans which were in place. That review will recommend ways to enhance the opportunities for intervention and whether the appropriate support measures are in place to prevent and address risk factors that are associated with children engaging with criminal activities.
This is vital preliminary work and it is already underway. There is not a vacuum of work, as can be suggested at times, in the advocacy space around this matter. This
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