Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia Limited - Submission to the Senate Inquiry into Australia’s Youth

The terms of reference of this inquiry are: (a) the outcomes and impacts of youth incarceration in jurisdictions across Australia; (b) the over-incarceration of First Nations children; (c) the degree of compliance and non-compliance by state, territory and federal prisons and detention centres with the human rights of children and young people in detention; (d) the Commonwealth's international obl. [...] Police are to prefer the use of a caution over charging a young person unless the number of previous charges or cautions the young person has received would make doing so inappropriate.11 When determining the appropriateness of a caution, the seriousness of the alleged offence and of any previous offences is to be considered.12 In the case of a first offence, a referral to a JJT should usually be. [...] After spending most of the day in the police lock-up, the boy appeared before Justices of the Peace and was released to bail with conditions that he remain at his home between the hours of 7pm and 7am and not attend the central business district of his local area except in the company of his mother or older brother. [...] On the importance of the study’s findings overall, it was noted that: Prevention of poor outcomes, including repeated contact with the criminal justice system, relies on the identification of vulnerability early in life and at the start of such contact.22 The following case example highlights the vulnerability of young people with neurodevelopmental impairments in the youth justice system and the. [...] The charge was subsequently dismissed after a court ruling that the police interview was inadmissible as a consequence of the boy’s lack of his understanding of his right to silence and the inappropriateness of the brother acting as an ‘interview friend’ in the interview.