Young people and the Queensland juvenile justice system: quantitative modelling
National Criminal Justice Modelling Workshop: 2003
Presenter: Sue Barrett, PhD Student, Griffith University, Queensland
Overview of presentation:
The over-representation of Indigenous people within criminal justice systems, specifically their rates of incarceration, is well documented the world over. Within Australia in 1991, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody identified this over-representation as being a major factor contributing to the deaths of Indigenous people in custody. In 2000, the Queensland Government and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Board declared that by the year 2011, this over-representation would be reduced by 50%. Furthermore, Queensland’s Juvenile Justice Act 1993 has as one of its main principles that the incarceration of juveniles should occur only as a last resort.
A database consisting of all finalised appearances by juveniles in Queensland Courts for 1999 to 2003 was obtained from the Department of Families in Queensland. Firstly, within the Queensland juvenile justice system, the discretionary steps that may lead to a custodial situation for juvenile offenders were identified. Secondly, pathways to detention through the Queensland juvenile justice system were identified, and using transitional probabilities the response by the juvenile justice system to the offending behaviour of children was quantified. Variables that were examined include offence seriousness, offending behaviour of the juvenile, Indigenous status, gender, prior detention orders, and the Court location. Results indicated that significant disparity exists between the probability of being Indigenous or non-indigenous at each of the discretionary steps within the system.
| Release | PDF Size | |
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