Justice groups have strongly condemned the Northern Territory’s new youth justice measures as “overly punitive” and a means to “cause more pain and harm” to Aboriginal children and families.
At the weekend the NT government announced measures to “crack down on repeat offenders” including targeting “ringleaders” and introducing “tough bail and monitoring conditions” for young offenders. Adults who “recruit kids to commit offences” will face up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
There will be an increase in youth “boot camps and on Country work camps” across the territory, more behavioural programs and a review of penalties for property offences.
The NT government will allocate extra resources to police, including a boost to “school-based policing” and “a massive increase in CCTV cameras across the territory”.
There will be “increased wellbeing and PTSD support services” for police, and a push to “make the removal of a firearm from a police officer an indictable offence”.
The president of the NT’s Criminal Lawyers’ Association, Marty Aust, said the measures flew in the face of the findings of the royal commission into the detention of children in the territory, and the demands of the recent Black Lives Matter protests.
“We keep seeing a bundling together of police support and youth offending, but these are two separate issues,” Aust said.
“What we need to do is find pro-social activities and build infrastructure to keep kids out of jail. The Black Lives Matter movement shows that justice reinvestment is the key to moving forward, not blaming youth, parents or police but to look at the recommendations of the royal commission and expert, evidence-based social programs, and work hard on one page together,” Aust said.
“The only way to be tough on youth crime is to get rid of as many young people from the criminal justice system and get them on track.”
The co-chair of the Aboriginal-led justice coalition Change the Record, Cheryl Axleby, said it was disappointing the NT government was reintroducing “its failed ‘tough on crime’ policies that the royal commission criticised and ignoring the real solutions that could make our children and communities safer”.
In 2017, the Don Dale royal commission found “shocking and systemic failures” in juvenile detention over many years that were known about but ignored at the highest levels. It made more than 230 recommendations, including raising the age of criminal responsibility to 12 and banning the detention of under-14s except for serious crimes.
“In the Northern Territory, on any given day almost 100% of imprisoned children are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander,” Axleby said.
“Punitive and ‘tough on crime’ policies will only drive these numbers higher and cause more pain and harm to these kids and their families, while doing nothing to make our communities safer.”
Announcing the new approach, the NT chief minister, Michael Gunner, said: “Territorians know this is a difficult issue with no silver bullet. It takes hard work and time to get it right.”
But Axleby said this approach was “out of step with the rest of the world which is following medical and expert advice by raising the age of criminal responsibility, keeping children out of prison, and keeping them connected with school, health services and supporting families to stay together”.
“It’s time for the Northern Territory government to urgently implement the royal commission’s recommendations, raise the age of legal responsibility to at least 14 years old and give this generation of Aboriginal children a chance at a brighter future.”
