Although South Australia is doing well at battling youth crime, the government is forging ahead with its policy aimed at reducing recidivism. Photo: Government of South Australia, State Budget.
The South Australian Government is moving to strengthen youth bail and sentencing laws in an effort to reduce youth offending and recidivism.
Though the government is looking to crack down on youth crime, it pointed out in the same statement that ABS data showed SA had the lowest youth offender rates of any state in the Commonwealth, meaning it was the second-best subdivision in the country, behind only the Capital Territory.
A small number of young offenders have a disproportionate effect on the statistics, with data from the Courts Administration Authority showing that just 20 youths were responsible for between 11 and 13 per cent of all charges laid in youth court.
With this in mind, the SA Government is going ahead with the Young Offender Plan, a strategy aimed at strengthening laws for repeat offenders, paired with efforts to break the cycle of offending before young offenders become entrenched in the criminal justice system.
“While South Australia has the lowest young offender rate of any state in the nation, we know that there are a small cohort of young offenders who are responsible for a disproportionate rate of offending,” Attorney-General Kyam Maher said.
”The justice system needs improvements to better respond to these serious repeat young offenders.”
Under the plan, the government has proposed laws in specific cases where a recidivist young offender has been taken into custody for a serious offence.
In addition to this, the government is investing $3 million over three years from the Justice Rehabilitation Fund for targeted intervention systems to break the cycle of youth offending.
These programs, developed by the Department of Human Services, are set to be individualised and culturally informed. The system will focus on ensuring young people can access existing schemes that may help them, such as the NDIS.
“We’re investing $3 million in intervention programs to break the cycle of reoffending, and help young offenders avoid becoming adult offenders,” Mr Maher said.
The draft bill has been released for consultation with stakeholders and the general public. To view the proposed laws and make submissions to the draft process, visit the SA Government’s website. Submissions are due by 20 August.
