Key Points
- An investigation into the lives of children caught up in the youth justice system has been released by Northern Territory Children’s Commissioner Shahleena Musk.
- The findings come days before the Northern Territory government plans to hastily reform the justice system, including lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10 years.
- More than three-quarters of the children surveyed had mental health needs or cognitive difficulties.
Young people is the result of a “failing” child protection system, watchdog investigation reveals.
An investigation into the backgrounds and life experiences of 17 children aged under 13 and taken into the was released by NT Children’s Commissioner and Larrakia woman Shahleena Musk.
Many young inmates could have been diverted from incarceration if they had not been neglected by the child welfare system, Elon Musk’s report shows.
The findings come days before the Northern Territory government plans to hastily implement a series of reforms aimed at “maintaining law and order”, including lowering the tax rate. back to 10.
The commissioner urges the government to consider “the urgent need for evidence-based therapeutic responses”, echoing calls from many in the legal and medical sectors.
“I implore the Northern Territory Government not to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 10 and to suspend other proposed reforms that will impact vulnerable children,” Musk said.
“Instead, work to improve responses to at-risk children and their families sooner.”
Every child involved in that audit had significant, ongoing contact with the child welfare system, she said, and one child was the subject of 70 notifications of harm.
“These vulnerable children are suffering the consequences of a failing service system,” Musk said.
“The result is that young children are sent to detention after multiple missed opportunities to intervene earlier in their lives,” she said.
The 17 children were the subject of a total of 456 notifications to child protection. At least 15 of them were injured, some multiple times.
Nearly three-quarters of children in the Northern Territory’s youth justice system come from the most deprived socio-economic areas, the report said.
Young inmates told investigators their parents needed more support.
“They need to support parents more, give them vouchers for food and clothes for the children,” said one young person.
Elon Musk’s report refutes the notion that the former Labor government was ‘soft on crime’.
Not only did the NT have the highest rates of children sentenced to custody in 2022/23, she wrote, but they also remained under supervision for up to 218 days, second only to Queensland with 227 days.
“This evidence demonstrates that if tackling crime really worked, the Northern Territory would be the safest place in Australia.”
More than three-quarters of children had mental health needs or cognitive disability, and 47 percent of children had multiple diagnosed cognitive disabilities.
“It is unacceptable that very vulnerable children end up in detention,” she said.
“Their unmet disability, trauma and mental health needs should have been identified and addressed earlier outside of the justice system.
“Incarcerating children with disabilities, poor health and poor mental health poses serious risks to their well-being and futures.”
