youth justice

What are the contibtuing factors behind high rates of First Nations children in the youth justice system? And how best to adress these alarming trends? 

Revelations the Government didn't follow advice to shut down a South Auckland youth justice residence, Korowai Manaaki.

Former police commissioner Mike Bush's probe last year claims it was a 'near-miracle' no-one's been killed or seriously hurt.

Stuff reports it also mentions the 'under-qualified' workforce can't deal with the teens there.

A roof stand-off with youngsters in June was ended with KFC handouts.

Youth worker Aaron Hendry says their needs should be prioritised.

"The Government has a parental responsibility over the children they take into their care, and it needs to ensure that it is providing the right and adequate support to look after those young people. And time and time again, that is just not happening."

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National Party Deputy Leader Nicola Willis and Labour MP for Hutt South, Police Minister Ginny Andersen join Nick Mills for Politics Monday.

Together they discuss Kiri Allan resigning from Cabinet, after being charged over a car crash in Wellington overnight, as well as a raft of youth crime policies announced by the Government.

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Police Minister Ginny Andersen says latest data shows youth crime's tracking down.

Figures released today show offending rates for children have decreased 63 percent since 2011, and the number of young people offending each year has declined.

Andersen says the number doesn't only capture young people brought before the courts, but also when alternative action is taken.

"We record a whole range of those, but we record what percentage of those who have offended are dealt with in different ways. And just one of those is court action."

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“People are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment.” The appalling treatment of children at Banksia Hill Youth Detention Centre urges us to rethink how we treat some of society’s most vulnerable people. 

People who have spent time in prison are generally more disadvantaged, with higher health care needs than the wider Australian population, but their quality of life is often not considered to be public health or human rights issues. 

In this episode, Sarah is joined by Dr Stuart Kinner, a Professor in Curtin’s School of Population Health. They discuss Australia’s current treatment of justice-involved people, and changes that need to be made to multiple systems to improve structural inequalities that exist for people who are involved throughout the prison cycle. 

• Government’s response to Banksia Hill found wanting [02:02]
• “People are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment” [04:42]
• People in prison have human rights [04:42]
• People in prisons can't access Medicare [06:36]
• The stigma of being in prison [13:25]
• People who seek help more likely to return to jail [19:15]
• Effective support for people released from prison [22:55]
• Prisons as places of rehabilitation [26:51]
• Hope for changes to the system [28:55]

Learn more

• Association between contact with mental health and substance use services and reincarceration after release from prison
• Seeking mental health and substance use support isn’t keeping people from going back to jail
• Australia’s shame, still
• Politicians have misread the room on Banksia Hill: professor
• Why is a UN torture committee visiting Australia?

Connect with our gests

Dr Stuart Kinner is a Professor in Curtin’s School of Population Health. He leads a program of multi-disciplinary research on the health of marginalised and justice-involved people. His work is distinguished by methodological rigour, ethical research practice and meaningful research translation. 

He is experienced in longitudinal studies, multi-sectoral data linkage, randomised controlled trials, program evaluation, policy analysis, systematic review, and meta-analysis. He has produced more than 250 publications (192 peer reviewed) and attracted more than $28 million in research and consulting funds, mostly from nationally competitive schemes. 

Dr Kinner is Chair of Australia’s_National Youth Justice Health Advisory Group and_ the WHO’s Health in Prisons Programme Technical Expert Group. He also serves on the Steering Committee for the_Worldwide Prison Health Research and Engagement Network.

Dr Kinner's social profiles:

Linkedin
Twitter

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Transcript

Read the transcript.

Behind the scenes

Host: Sarah Taillier
Content creator: Zoe Taylor

First Nations Acknowledgement

Curtin University acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which Curtin Perth is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation, and on Curtin Kalgoorlie, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields; and the First Nations peoples on all Curtin locations.

Music

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Curtin University supports academic freedom of speech. The views expressed in The Future Of podcast may not reflect those of Curtin University.

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