Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee’s Inquiry into Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system. This submission complements Jesuit Social Services’ previous submission to the first iteration of this Inquiry, opened under the former Government.
Our previous submission called for broad systemic change and a genuine commitment to implementing evidence-based solutions to address and prevent offending by children and young people. It echoed the calls made by the then-National Children’s Commissioner for a concerted national approach to child justice reform, including a Cabinet Minister for Children and a National Taskforce to coordinate the various parts of reform.
The current submission outlines a range of evidence-based programs that are effective across prevention, early intervention, diversion and response, and recommends that the Federal Government:
- Invest in expanding promising pilots and scaling successful programs
- Use Commonwealth funding to incentivise action by states and territories
- Work with states and territories to support their compliance with Australia’s international obligations on human rights and children’s rights
- Work with states and territories to ensure each jurisdiction meets its Closing the Gap targets
- Establish a First Nations self-determination and strengthening fund for Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations
- Lead the development of national standards for Restorative Justice
- Invest significantly more in Justice Reinvestment, and
- Accept an invitation for the Committee to visit Jesuit Social Services’ programs.
