Youth justice services
Youth justice services focus on supervising young people on court orders, addressing the issues underpinning youth offending and focusing on building their positive connections in the community.
Youth people on statutory orders may participate in a range of programs including educational, cultural and rehabilitative programs, which could be a simple as learning how to cook and look after themselves.
The services are delivered through 15 service centres across the state that work to address youth offending and provide the best possible chance of rehabilitation to those in contact with the youth justice system.
Youth justice service centres run many programs aimed at preventing young people from reoffending. These include programs to build connections with their communities, help lift self esteem and learn about the consequences of their offences.
The purpose-built centres are an outcome of the Government’s blueprint for implementation of the Crime and Misconduct Commission’s recommendations, “Protecting Children: An Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Foster Care”.
Youth detention centres
Queensland has two youth detention centres:
- The Brisbane Youth Detention Centre, located at Wacol, accommodates females from across the state, and males from south of Rockhampton
- The Cleveland Youth Detention Centre, located in Townsville, accommodates young males from north of Rockhampton.
Professional staff members from the Department of Communities provide care, counselling, and activities that are sensitive to the gender, cultural beliefs, and health needs of young people in detention, while assisting their successful reintegration into the community. Staff are specially trained to work with adolescents and assist young people in detention to achieve normal adolescent milestones, including developing independence and preparing for employment.
The centres’ daily routines ensure that young people are engaged in constructive programs that include cultural, educational, pre-vocational, vocational, and recreational programs.
Queensland ’s youth detention centres are committed to providing a safe environment for young people, employees, and visitors and welcome family and approved friends to visit young people in detention. The centres recognise the important part visitors play in the reintegration of young people back into the community upon release from detention.
Evaluation of youth detention services
In 2001, an evaluation of the Secure Care Framework was undertaken.
Phase one of the evaluation process tested the strengths and shortcomings of the framework's administrative and organisational systems and assessed the degree to which they effectively supported the Secure Care Framework. Phase two examined the affect that the Secure Care Framework had upon the delivery of services within the youth detention centres.
- Securing the care: a summary of the evaluations of Youth Detention Services in Queensland
- Securing the care: a summary of the evaluations of Youth Detention Services in Queensland
Youth detention centre inspections
The Youth Detention Inspection Team conducts quarterly inspections and monitoring of Queensland’s youth detention centres in accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act 1992. The inspection function became legislated following the Queensland government’s commitment to recommendation 17 of the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions (the Forde inquiry), which found that incidents of abuse had occurred in church and state-run facilities such as youth detention centres.
The Youth Detention Inspection Team undertakes on-site inspections of each juvenile detention centre every three months, for compliance with legislation, policy and international standards to which Australia is signatory, as well as any other relevant issues.
Inspection reports are submitted to the Director-General, and contain independent assessments of the four major areas of chief executive responsibility: the security and management of detention centres, and the safety custody and wellbeing of young people detained within.
Inspection reports include recommendations based on robust findings and good practice in other jurisdictions. While advisory in nature, recommendations are intended to promote continuous improvement within the organisation, drive future-oriented strategies to mitigate risk, and enhance staff professionalism.
Through its focus on the safe custody and wellbeing of vulnerable children and young people in departmental care, the inspection team adds value to existing management processes and oversight mechanisms designed to improve the accountability, integrity and performance of detention centres, and serves as a continual reminder of the intent of theForde inquiry and the principles of the Juvenile Justice Act 1992.
Last updated: 10 September 2008.
