Hours in isolation, aggression and abuse from both other detainees and guards and infrequent mealtimes are just some of the hardships faced by young people being placed in youth detention centres.
The age of criminal responsibility demonstrates the age at which the law recognises a person as being aware and punishable for any criminal activity they may undertake. Across Australia, many young people are incarcerated daily. Youth detention centres severely overrepresent First Nations groups, can be detrimental to mental health and create a record that follows children long into their lives. How can we call it ‘protecting the wider community’ when the current system normalises imprisonment and is shown to set children on a path of criminality
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Unfair legislation and long rooted societal issues are the main causes for the inequalities in youth incarceration. The weight of broader social and economic disadvantage is being placed on young children just trying to live their lives. And the situation is getting worse. Children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent are 21 times more likely to spend time in youth detention even when not yet charged with an offence. This time can be heavily traumatic, especially for younger groups, as it divides them from their family unit and support systems that may be in place. Across youth detention centres, there is clear research showing that many children are not well supported in these …show more content…
Across Australia, there are around 45 children under the age of 14 in youth detention everyday, with 4 in 5 still awaiting sentencing. Criminalising young children rather than having a focus on their rehabilitation has a loop effect causing many children to move in and out of detention centres rather than mending the root cause for the offence. If a child is insufficiently supported by the adult figures in their life so they steal money from someone else, how is locking them in a room going to fix that? One small mistake in childhood, probably heavily impacted by a plethora of other issues, could affect someone younger than a year 7, for the rest of their life. These children are not yet old enough to legally have social media yet we think them capable of understanding the impact of their crime. Influencing things such as school, internship and job applications, it is clearly shown that youth criminalisation has a harsh impact long into one’s adult life. No child younger than 14 should be given up on, locked into a system of