Three medical peaks are calling on the government to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility and establish a health-first framework.
A joint statement from the RACGP, RACP, and the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association (AIDA) says the federal government “must act” on establishing a legislative framework that addresses the health needs of children before criminalisation.
“Our concern is that the way both states and territory are approaching youth incarceration is promoting another stolen generation,” AIDA CEO Dr Peter Malouf told The Medical Republic.
“We’re advocating hard for this health-first model to be that early signal to prevent [that from happening to] the next generation … that are coming through this Western and archaic system that’s not built for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
All three organisations spoke at the senate inquiry into Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system, which is looking into the over-incarceration of First Nations children and the Commonwealth’s international obligations regarding youth justice and civil rights.
They commended the senate committee for hearing directly from Indigenous doctors and medical allies, but said it was “disappointing” that much of the discussion revisited findings already established by multiple previous inquiries, royal commissions, and expert reviews.
These include findings that children entering the justice system have often experiences homelessness, poverty, racism, trauma, or family violence long before they offend.
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Responding will take what Dr Malouf called “political courage”.
“If governments are serious about reducing youth offending and improving community safety, we must intervene before children are criminalised, not after the damage has already been done,” he said.
The health-first approach would identify and respond to factors which may lead a child to offend, including disability, neurodevelopmental conditions, mental illness, trauma, housing instability, family stress, and cultural disconnection.
Dr Malouf said primary care had an important role to play.
“There’s a focus on Thriving Kids at the moment, as a government initiative, so we’re thinking about [a version of] Thriving Kids for these kids that are coming through the criminal justice system,” he said.
“How do we tailor interventions or screenings early on and create models of care that are opportunistic? We [don’t want to] just wait for a child to present to a general practice – how do we bring general practice to the settings in which kids engage in?
“… The majority of kids are coming through from child protection through to the youth justice space, but there are also schools and other access points where there could be early interventions and education and engagement.”
Alongside the call for a health-first framework, AIDA, the RACGP, and the RACP also called for the government to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years nationally, to invest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations, and to embed the principles of restorative justice into the youth justice system.
