Assessment 3: Analysis of Youth Detention Center Proposal - WSU

This report critically analyzes a proposal to allocate $25 million in state funds for a new youth detention center in New South Wales (NSW). The assignment begins by outlining the existing juvenile justice system in NSW, highlighting the current number of detention centers and the government's emphasis on community-based supervision. It then delves into the proposal, presenting both positive and negative aspects, with a focus on the vulnerability of young people, the potential for further victimization within detention centers, and the overrepresentation of Indigenous youth. The report draws on research, expert opinions, and reports from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), the NSW Ombudsman, and various academics and practitioners. Ultimately, the report recommends that the NSW government prioritize improving the infrastructure and programs of existing detention centers rather than building a new one, advocating for investment in rehabilitation and support services. The report also suggests seeking advice from those with experience in the criminal justice system and carefully considering the potential detrimental effects of detention on young offenders, particularly Indigenous youth.

Running head: YOUTH JUSTICE CONFERENCING
YOUTH JUSTICE CONFERENCING
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Introduction
The purpose of this assignment is to shed light on the proposal that suggests allocation of
25 million dollars from the state funds for the establishment of a new youth detention center. The
assignment will provide an analysis of the proposal and support thee NSW Parliament in taking
the final decision on building a new detention center by allocating 25 million dollars. The
primary purpose of youth detention centers is to provide a better place for youth offenders for
correcting their behaviors rather than sending them to prison. However, as experts have pointed
out, “youth custody in whatever form, is that it is self-defeating and counterproductive”. The
assignment thus aims to argue that the allocating further 25 million dollars for the building of a
new youth detention center using State Funds must be rejected. The main reason for this is
because NSW already has a number of youth detention centers and it is important to focus on
these and improving their infrastructure rather than building a new one.
Background
The juvenile justice system serves as the framework for several practices that could assist
the young people who are supposedly engaged in different forms of offences to lead an improved
life. The juvenile justice system in the NSW region majorly deals with the children belonging to
the age group of 10 to 17 years when the crime is being committed. For any youth justice system,
the youth justice supervision is a major feature involving young people. The young people might
be supervised either in the community or in safe detention facilities. According to the latest
reports by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare or AIHW, the rate of young children
under supervision on per day average has been the highest in the community and lowest in
detention centers. The report found that around 83% of the young offenders have been

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supervised in the community and only 17% were supervised in detention centers (Aihw.gov.au
2019). These trends reveal that the government too is aware about the need to make children
committing offences improves with and within the community and not in detention centers.
Apart from that, it has also been revealed that the young detainees in the various detention
centers have to face abuse of both mental and physical form. In a 2011 NSW Ombudsman report,
it was found that a detention center named the Kariong Juvenile Justice Center had problems
with its rehabilitation programs along with problems in case management by the staff and the
treatment of youth offenders particularly children with mental health issues
(Theconversation.com 2019). The detention center was ultimately closed in the year 2015.
Juvenile justice centers or detention centers have been created across the state to provide
care for young children who involve in offences of various types. Detention is considered as an
intervention of “last resort” for the young offenders as per the present national and international
discourse. However, increasing correctivism has become challenging because the norm of
detention as the last resort in many jurisdictions have failed to produce any result
(Juvenile.justice.nsw.gov.au 2019). These juvenile justice centers serve as alternatives for the
young offenders who are sent for correction rather than punishment. The primary function of the
youth justice system in a detention center is to observe the children scrupulously. These
detention centers have been created to provide an alternative option for the young offenders to
have a better chance at rectifying themselves. Keeping this in mind, the NSW youth justice
system provides for several facilities for the young offenders so that they could be encouraged
for positive change. It is natural that young people would commit mistakes and sometimes it
becomes serious leading to crime. In most cases, the children commit the crimes without
realizing the consequences of it. Many police officials have confessed that it is very difficult to

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deal with young offenders in the detention centers. Prior to evaluating the proposal, it is crucial
to to comprehend the youth justice system in NSW. It is very essential to decide on the system of
youth justice. The governance on youth offending must stress on the provision of justice to
broader number of juveniles serving imprisonment by bettering the infrastructure to make the
system able to run efficiently. Presently, the state of NSW has six juvenile justice centers or
Youth Justice Centers that “accommodate young offenders and offer health, educational and
spiritual services including individual case management, specialized counseling and training in
job and living skills” (Juvenile.justice.nsw.gov.au 2019). The proposal to spend 25 million
dollars more in building a new youth detention center seems a wasted proposal because there are
enough already. The money from the State Funds could be used to improve the present detention
centers.
Research and analysis
In this section of the assignment, the aim is to research and evaluate the proposal of
allocating 25 million dollars for building a new youth detention center by presenting the positive
as well as negative aspects of the proposal. Young, especially adolescent age is a vulnerable age
in every individual’s life. While some adolescents acquire the path of success, others deviate
from their path and indulge in crime (Muncie 2006). In such cases, the juvenile justice system
comes into play and tries to understand the reasons behind the children committing a crime. It
has been found that the police perception of the young people committing sexual crimes is also a
factor to be considered while opting for detention centers. In a study, it has been found that the
majority of the police in Queensland perceived young offenders as those in need of intervention.
This perception is also dangerous because many instances have been there when the police
intervention “has been shown to be a strong predictor of future criminal justice involvement”

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(Richards, Cross and Dwyer 2019). Detention centers, as Huy Nguyen asserts, the juvenile
justice centers are a critical part in the lives of the children because the audience there are captive
and are intervened regularly if they need any type of care. However, he also states that these
detention centers often yield negative results for the young offenders because it might further
victimize them (Nguyen, 2019). Apart from that, coming in touch with other offenders, the
children might be taught other criminogenic behavior. However, according to Sergeant Denise
Lynch, detention centers have been very successful when several agencies collaborated with the
police (Lynch 2019). Sergeant Lynch explained that the juvenile justice centers are the process
beyond the children’s court where young people are detained for sometimes. She shared her
experience working with different agencies and worked at juvenile justice detention centers
regarding domestic violence and found the program to be quite successful (Lynch 2019).
On further positive side, building a new detention center successfully might be valued
highly by the citizens because it would mean that more children in the NSW state would have
better chances of reviving their lives. Such a change would prepare the young offenders to
develop and continue to achieve success in their lives. Studies however have shown that putting
the children in detention centers could only have detrimental effects (Johnstone 2019). They
might a have a less successful life and more likely to become anti-social by engaging in anti-
social activities.
In the NSW region, the higher representation of Indigenous people in detention centers is
another concern. As found in a study, many Indigenous children are exposed to violence and
sexual abuse from a very young age that impacts them in a massive way (White 2015). The
overrepresentation of Indigenous youth o=in detention centers reflects negatively about the youth
justice system of not only NSW but the entire country (Bastable and Sentas 2016).Therefore,

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building a new detention center using the State Funds would not bring fruitful results when it
comes to addressing the issues associated with Indigenous young offenders.
Recommendations and conclusion
It is important for the NSW government to focus on using the valuable State Funds in
improving the infrastructure of the detention centers that are already present rather than spending
it on building a new one. It must be recommended that the government seeks advice from those
who have been into the criminal justice system or have serve imprisonment such as Brett Collins.
Collins spoke about the situation he faced while in detention and the fight he had to fight to make
the forces realize that children offenders are not hardcore criminals (Collins, 2019). Next, the
government should be advised that the proposal of allocating such a huge amount in establishing
another detention center would not yield any effective result. Instead, the NSW government
could look for investing the fund in providing added facilities and programs to the youth already
in the various detention centers.

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References:
Aihw.gov.au (2019). Youth justice in Australia. [online] Aihw.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/19707990-1719-4600-8fce-f0af9d61331c/aihw-juv-
116.pdf.aspx?inline=true [Accessed 2 Aug. 2019].
Bastable, E. and Sentas, V., 2016. Overpolicing Indigenous youth: The suspect target
management plan. Hum. Rts. Defender, 25, p.16.
Collins, B. (2019). Brett Collins. [online] YouTube. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XmxA5o6pfI&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 1 Aug. 2019].
Johnstone, P. (2019). Peter Johnstone. [online] YouTube. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT44B8EgAjI&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 1 Aug. 2019].
Juvenile.justice.nsw.gov.au (2019). Youth Justice NSW. [online] Juvenile.justice.nsw.gov.au.
Available at: http://www.juvenile.justice.nsw.gov.au/ [Accessed 2 Aug. 2019].
Lynch, D. (2019). Sergeant Denise Lynch. [online] YouTube. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EF3jLVnqbM&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 2 Aug. 2019].
Muncie, J., 2006. Governing young people: Coherence and contradiction in contemporary youth
justice. Critical social policy, 26(4), pp.770-793.
Nguyen, H. (2019). Huy Nguyen. [online] YouTube. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPJ_XkZDM2U&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 2 Aug.
2019].

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Richards, K., Cross, C. and Dwyer, A., 2019. Police perceptions of young people: a qualitative
analysis. Police Practice and Research, 20(4), pp.360-375.
Theconversation.com (2019). Abuse in youth detention is not restricted to the Northern
Territory. [online] The Conversation. Available at: http://theconversation.com/abuse-in-youth-
detention-is-not-restricted-to-the-northern-territory-63101 [Accessed 2 Aug. 2019].
White, R., 2015. Indigenous young people and hyperincarceration in Australia. Youth Justice,
15(3), pp.256-270.
YouTube. (2019). Peter Johnstone. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=PDjP5UqFHIM&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 2 Aug. 2019].