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Plans for new ‘supermax’ unit symptomatic of youth justice troubles
News of a new ‘supermax’ unit within Victoria’s youth detention system highlights a range of systemic issues that need to be urgently addressed, says Jesuit Social Services. “It is clear that the current conditions in our youth detention facilities are not supporting the successful rehabilitation of young people involved with the justice system,” says Julie…
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Crime statistics show decrease in young offenders, at odds with rising detention numbers
New data released by the Crime Statistics Agency today shows that both the number of young people committing offences and the number of alleged incidents recorded against young people have decreased over the past 12 months. This is at odds with Victoria’s rising youth detention population, and the figures should be the catalyst for new…
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Andy Hamilton SJ on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
In his article for Anti-Poverty Week, ANDY HAMILTON SJ writes that the existence of poverty in our society is a measure of the value we place on human beings and their lives. We should not need a special day to remind us to eradicate poverty in Australia. If we really wanted to achieve this we…
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Raising the Age of Criminal Responsibility: There is a better way
In Australia, at this time, a child as young as 10 can be charged with a crime, put before a court and punished as a criminal. Jesuit Social Services believes this is not only bad for children, but also for the wider community. Our new paper—Raising the Age of Criminal Responsibility: There is a better…
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Australian Governments must stop locking up 10-year old children
Australia’s Governments must stop locking up 10-year-old children and raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, says Julie Edwards, CEO of Jesuit Social Services. “It is deeply disappointing that the Council of Attorneys-General has today deferred recommendations relating to the age of criminal responsibility until 2020. This means our states and territories will continue…
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35 years of generous and ongoing support
Peninsula Support Group members visiting our Brosnan site in Brunswick We are very grateful for the commitment and loyalty of the Peninsula Support Group over the past 35 years. In that time, the group have raised a generous $90,000 in support of our work, particularly Brosnan Services. Such commitment is integral to the work we…
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Submission to the 2020-21 Victorian State Budget
Many Victorian communities experience significant and persistent disadvantage that manifests in high rates of disengagement from school, joblessness, homelessness, drug and alcohol misuse, family violence, child maltreatment, offending, mental illness, and pain and trauma. These are complex challenges and, not surprisingly, evidence shows that simplistic, siloed solutions do not work to turn around entrenched disadvantage…
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Submission to the New South Wales State Budget 2020-21
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the 2020-21 NSW State Budget. For more than ten years, Jesuit Social Services has been working in Western Sydney to help communities break out of cycles of disadvantage by developing local answers to local problems. Our submission to the State Budget is centered on…
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The Victorian Government must set public targets to reduce the number of young people in detention, on remand and who re-offend after exiting the youth justice system, in light of a new report that shows an almost doubling of spending on youth detention services over the last four years, says Jesuit Social Services. The annual Report…
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Social security boost welcome; longer-term support needed
The Federal Government’s decision to temporarily boost the Jobseeker Allowance (formerly known as Newstart) and the Youth Allowance Job Seeker payment for six months during the unfolding COVID-19 health crisis is extremely welcome – and demonstrates the need for longer-term solutions to support people on the margins, says Jesuit Social Services. “The COVID-19 crisis has…