Aboriginal children’s commissioner says the ‘system that we have now of cracking down on crime doesn’t work’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children urgently need more cultural support in detention to ensure their wellbeing and reduce rates of reoffending, a report has found.

The report released on Wednesday by the Commission for Children and Young People and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission says that stakeholders have complained at guards at youth detention centres getting just 30 minutes of Indigenous cultural training, despite Indigenous children making up one in five children in detention.

It is based on interviews conducted in 2017 with 35 people from Aboriginal community controlled organisations that work in youth detention centres.

It also found the youth detention system also had just four Aboriginal liaison officers working with about 200 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees across two detention centres, making it difficult for elders and community workers to organise visits and programs that could provide cultural support.

The department of justice says new youth justice staff receive two hours of compulsory cultural training from internal cultural workers, and since November they have also received five hours of additional cultural training from the Koori Cultural Heritage Trust. About 100 new recruits have completed that longer training program.

Aboriginal children’s commissioner Justin Mohamed said improving the cultural safety of prisons would reduce crime.

“If 60% of Aboriginal children in this case are reoffending, the system that we have now of cracking down on crime doesn’t work,” Mohamed said.

“We aren’t make any headway into this. If we reduce the reoffending, then we reduce the crime … we want people to leave detention a stronger person than when they entered it.”

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Mohamed, a Gooreng Gooreng man, said studies in adult prisons had shown Aboriginal prisoners who took part in cultural programs and had access to elders and kinship groups were less likely to reoffend and more likely to engage in community support networks.

But he said those programs were often considered an add-on that could be dropped for other considerations, like security concerns or lack of resources.

There were 198 Indigenous children and young people in detention in Victoria in 2015-16, making up 16% of the youth detention population. Aboriginal children were jailed at 13 times the rate of non-Indigenous children.

Nationally, Indigenous children make up 53% of all youth detainees and are jailed at 25 times the rate of non-Indigenous children. Last month, the Northern Territory revealed that every child it had in detention was Indigenous.

The Victorian government is currently conducting an inquiry into Indigenous over-representation in the justice system, but the report said that some changes, such as increasing the number of Aboriginal staff members and increasing compulsory cultural training to a full day, should not wait for that review.

It said that cultural considerations, such as a focus on smaller home-like spaces and an outdoor gathering space, should be considered when designing the new 224-bed high-security youth justice facility.

It also recommended that Aboriginal children be granted leave to attend the funerals of extended family members and community members, and that applications for leave consider the cultural import of sorry business.

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Once at a funeral, the report said, consideration should be given to removing the child’s handcuffs, particularly if they have been selected to be a pallbearer. Both youth detainees and adult prisoners are routinely shackled when on day release to reduce the chance of escape.

“I have been to funerals in my own family where people have attended in shackles,” Mohamed said. “My aunt passed away and her two sons attended her funeral, their mother’s funeral, in handcuffs.

“We are talking about children here, young people, who are still developing, having to attend the funeral of a loved one in restraints. These sort of events can be very traumatising for a young person for the rest of their life.”