2025-02-21
WA's youth justice system is broken, likely to increase reoffending and causing devastating harm, with the deaths of two children in detention in the last 18 months.
The Greens (WA) are calling for the system to be completely overhauled with a massive increase of government funding for justice reinvestment, alongside preventative and therapeutic programs for young people to keep them out of prison.
The Greens plan includes:
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Closing Unit 18 at Casuarina Prison by 30 June 2025.
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Raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14.
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The creation of a new lead agency for Youth Justice that is separate from Corrective Services, as per recommendations by the Coroner, Inspector of Custodial Services and in line with every other State and Territory.
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$120 million to develop a Youth Justice Strategy and invest in preventative and therapeutic programs to keep young people out of prison and supported in their community.
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A commitment to fast-track delivery of the Marlamanu on-country diversionary program in the Kimberley and an additional $100 million to work with First Nations to progress similar facilities in the East Kimberley, Pilbara, Goldfields, Mid West and South West regions.
Quotes attributable to WA Greens MLC Dr Brad Pettitt:
“Western Australia’s justice system is broken; it is harming kids, not helping them to thrive.
“Over the course of 2024, WA locked up almost 750 children with evidence suggesting almost all of those kids have some kind of neurological disability. We can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result!
“After the tragic deaths of two young people that could, and should, have been avoided the time has come to acknowledge the system is not working for kids and commit to systemic reform with a focus on rehabilitative and therapeutic measures that divert at-risk young people away from the criminal justice system before it is too late.
“Unit 18 is a maximum security facility designed to hold 124 adult prisoners yet right now it holds just a handful of young people while the rest of our adult prisons, including Casuarina, are at breaking point.
“At an average cost of more than $1.1 million per year for every young person in Unit 18, there is simply no benefit to keeping this facility open. Imagine if we invested this money instead into diversion and prevention as a matter of priority, helping to break the cycle of reoffending before kids are locked up.
“Right now the administration of justice reinvestment is piecemeal, with various programs run by the Justice, Communities and WA Police. That’s why we’re calling for a dedicated agency to take the lead on youth justice and develop a holistic, statewide strategy for reform.
“At the end of the day, the Greens want to see increased investment in prevention and early intervention, place-based community services and diversionary programs for young people, both as a gross figure and a proportion of overall spending, that is based on what the evidence says is needed.
“Incarceration should be a last resort; especially for kids. Both major parties are so blinkered by wanting to appear ‘tough on crime’ that they refuse to listen to the experts, to the community and to the overwhelming and growing body of evidence nationally and internationally that this approach does not work.”
Quotes attributable to WA Greens First Nations spokesperson and Legislative Council candidate, Clint Uink:
“Jailing is failing and here in Western Australia, more than two-thirds of the kids who interact with the criminal justice system are First Nations, WA Labor are desperately failing to support and nurture kids who are falling through the cracks.
“There is no justification for locking up kids as young as 10 years old, which is why the Greens are reiterating our call for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to at least 14 years of age.
“But more than that, we are calling for urgent reform of the justice system that puts the health and wellbeing of our kids first, and recognises that incarceration of children is not making our community safer.
“The Marlamanu on-country diversionary program in the West Kimberley was first proposed in 2017 and this Labor government promised it would be completed in 2023, yet here we are two years on and construction has not even begun.
“The current system causes incredible harm by isolating kids from their community and support networks - we want to see the Marlamanu program fast-tracked and further programs across the state rolled out as a priority.
“Young people need culturally-appropriate support to break the cycle of reoffending. Torturing children in solitary confinement in a maximum-security adult prison is a recipe for disaster. Jailing is failing us all; there is a better way, we’re calling for the courage to choose it.”