Cleveland Dodd

Australia has been slammed for its juvenile justice laws as UN experts sound the alarm over the growing number of people in prison without a sentence.

The mother of a teen who fatally self-harmed in custody says she understands why her son took his life after a coroner delivered his inquest findings.

Early work has started on a $158 million youth detention facility to house challenging detainees currently being held in a wing of an adult prison.

A coroner hearing an inquest for an Indigenous teen who fatally self-harmed in a youth detention says he might recommend another inquiry into the facility.

An Indigenous teen who fatally self-harmed in detention was subjected to "barbarous and criminal" neglect, his mother says as an inquest into his death resumes.

Tough on crime policies do not work, a senate inquiry has been told as advocates call for oversight of state and territory youth justice legislation.

The coroner hearing an inquest for an Indigenous teen who fatally self-harmed in a youth detention centre has provisionally recommended the facility close.

A senior public servant faced barriers "way beyond what I imagined" when he tried to turn around a trouble-plagued youth detention centre.

Overcrowded and understaffed jails are breaching prisoners' human rights, with some subjected to "inhuman" treatment as cases of self-harm rise.

The parents of an Indigenous teen who died after self-harming in detention want the inquest to refocus on their son after a bid to remove the coroner failed.