Amendments to the Youth Justice & Related Legislation Amendment Act were passed in Parliament that will give decision makers such as Police and the Courts more discretion to choose the right consequences for young offenders.

The amendments will keep communities safer and ensures that young people who do the wrong thing face the consequences by removing barriers to youth diversion programs and providing a more effective bail application model. It will also ensure consistency in young people’s access to legal assistance, information, and privacy.

The key changes to the Youth Justice Act, Bail Act, and Police Administration Act include:

• Removing the barriers to youth diversion – so that Police can direct young people to address their offending behaviour faster and more effectively through referrals to youth diversion programs.
• Improving the application of bail – so that young people can be held to account quicker by streamlining the bail process.  Police will continue to have the power to arrest and hold young people who breach their bail, the difference is that there will now be fewer steps in the process. Instead of accumulating breach of bail charges, Police will be able to bring young people before the Courts sooner and the Courts will be able to make decisions about the original offences and breaches sooner.
•  Limiting the time children and young people spend in Police custody – The circumstances of a young person in custody will be reviewed by a senior sergeant of Police every four hours and by a judge after 24 hours. Before this amendment, the time limit was seven days.
• Ensuring earlier access to legal assistance for young people – so that young people have timely legal representation and are informed of their legal rights in an appropriate manner and language.
• Protecting the right to privacy for young people in court proceedings – This includes finding the right balance between the need for a young person’s privacy to be protected throughout all stages of the criminal process and the harm unwanted publicity might cause to the child, with the needs of the victim, as well as the need for public accountability and transparency.  Victims, witnesses, support people, relevant staff and genuine representatives of the media will be permitted in closed court proceedings. Any other member of the public may seek approval of the Court to attend the proceedings.

The Bill implements 11 recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT.

Since the Territory Labor Government began its reform of the youth justice system, recent statistics show:

• 83% of young people who undertook pre-court youth justice conferences did not re-offend within 12 months.
• Just under 70% of all young people on bail orders have successfully completed their bail orders, the highest completion rate in more than 7 years.
• 75% of young people in bail accommodation have completed their bail orders.
• 80% of young people who completed Operation Flinders have not offended post-camp.
• 71% of young people have successfully completed their community based orders, compared to just 51% three years ago when we first came to Government.

Quotes from Minister for Territory Families, Dale Wakefield

“These changes will make sure that young people who do the wrong thing face the consequences of their actions quicker and prevent re-offending by referring them to programs that will address offending behaviour.  This means safer communities.

“Since the Territory Labor Government began its reform of the youth justice system, we are seeing proof that our early intervention, prevention, and youth diversion programs and services are working.

“This is unlike the CLP who slashed funding for youth services, created a punitive system that led to a Royal Commission, and had no plans to address youth crime and prevent reoffending. Simply locking up children, with pre-existing problems, in the hope they will somehow become better citizens just doesn’t work.”

Media Contact: Paige Nguyen 0428 727 244
paige.nguyen@nt.gov.au