Page 1833 - Week 05 - Thursday, 16 May 2019
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As members of this Assembly would be aware, the blueprint for youth justice in the ACT is a 10-year strategy that provides a framework for youth justice reform through early support, prevention and diversion of young people from the youth justice system. At the six-year mark, the blueprint’s achievements demonstrate success in its approach, with significantly fewer young people involved in the youth justice system.
Most young people in our community live positive and productive lives and do not come into contact with the youth justice system. Those young people who do offend, especially who begin offending as children, are often particularly vulnerable. It is important to address the vulnerability of these children to progressively reduce the risk of youth offending over the long term.
In August 2017 I established the blueprint for youth justice taskforce to review progress made to date, provide advice on emerging challenges and make recommendations to focus our work for the final four years of the blueprint. The taskforce included representatives from key community groups, organisations and government agencies and was co-chaired by Ms Jodie Griffiths-Cook, the ACT Children and Young People Commissioner and Public Advocate; and Dr Mark Collis, Executive Director of Children, Youth and Families in the Community Services Directorate.
I wish to extend my thanks and appreciation to the co-chairs for their role in leading and guiding the development of this final report. I also recognise the significant contribution to this work of Dr Collis, who retired from the Community Services Directorate in February 2019, having led the development and implementation of the blueprint and many other key reforms, including the integration of child protection and youth justice services.
I also thank the many community organisations that engaged positively and proactively with this important work. The taskforce met on 10 occasions, including two workshops held at the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre. During this time, the taskforce considered research, policy papers and advice on a range of issues and emerging challenges, further outlined in the time line on page 6 of the final report.
The taskforce has drawn on knowledge from across the Canberra community, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders, advocates for children living with disability and mental health issues, and organisations that work directly with children and young people. As an outcome of this consultation and engagement with the community, the taskforce has provided considered and informed advice that identifies emerging challenges and recommends focus areas to achieve the objectives of the blueprint for the next four years.
To establish the context of youth justice in the ACT, the report provides an update on key indicators as a summary of progress under the blueprint over the previous six years. Since 2011-12 the ACT has seen decreases in the number of young people apprehended by ACT Policing and those under youth justice supervision, both community-based supervision and detention, as well as an improvement in the number and rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people under youth
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