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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 4 Hansard (3 April) . . Page.. 1522 ..

Youth Justice Services

(Question No 594)

Mr Smyth asked the Minister for Education, Youth and Family Services, upon notice, on 3 April 2003:

In relation to Youth Justice Services:

(1) How many clients did Youth Justice Services receive from the ACT Children's Court during 2001-02;

(2) How many Community-Based Orders on these clients were Youth Justice Services responsible for enforcing during 2001-02;

(3) How many instances of non-compliance with these orders were there during 2001-02;

(4) What actions were taken against clients who did not comply with their Community-Based Orders.

Ms Gallagher: The answer to Mr Smyth's question is:

(1) During 2001-02, Youth Justice Services received 436 Community Unit clients from the ACT Children's Court. There were 246 admissions of young people to the Quamby Youth Detention Centre. It is noted that approximately 86% of these admissions occurred after business hours.

(2) During the 2001-02 period, there were 1355 community-based orders supervised by Youth Justice Services. A number of young people have dual orders.

(3) During the 2001-02 period, less than 4% of all community based orders result in breach. There were a total of 54 court orders breached, 28 were a breach of bail and 26 were a breach of a community based order. If a young person has multiple orders and any one of these orders are breached, it may result in all of the orders being breached.

It should be noted that on occasions breaches have been instigated by other agencies, including the Australian Federal Police.

(4) Young people on orders are ultimately responsible for ensuring compliance with the conditions of their orders, under the supervision of Youth Justice Services.

Where a young person is at risk of breaching their order all reasonable attempts are made to advise the young people of that risk and the possible consequences. Staff endeavour to engage the young person and re-connect them back into regular supervision sessions.

Clients are advised through first and final warning letters when they are not complying with the conditions of their court orders and attempts are made to locate the young person via telephone contact or in person.

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