The Law Society of South Australia has warned that new proposed laws in the state could drive up the number of children going to prison.
The Law Society recently entered its submission to the SA government expressing concerns with its proposed legislation to address youth recidivism.
The Society said in a statement on Thursday that it is particularly concerned that the proposed laws could "significantly" increase the number of children in detention and notes that the cost of implementing the punitive measures of the legislation "far exceeds" any recent additional spending on programs aimed at addressing the root causes of youth offending.
The warnings comes as new figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, released Thursday, show around 85 per cent of children sentenced to detention return to custody within 12 months; highlighting concerns about 'tough on crime' approaches that experts warn make communities less safe while doing nothing effective to prevent offending.
Indigenous children are overrepresented in South Australia's youth detention system.
South Australia's recidivist young offenders Bill is the latest in a series of proposed legislation aimed at addressing youth offending; however, the Society said it is concerned that the cumulative effect of the Bills, which includes the Criminal Law Consolidation (Street Gangs) Amendment Bill - introduced in the state's Legislative Council on Thursday - could "inadvertently further criminalise young people who should not be the targets of this new legislative regime".
The Society said the youth detention system is "already stretched beyond functional capacity" and the Bill will add to pressure in the detention system rather than addressing diversionary measures which the Society considers are "key to reducing criminality".
The Society said the Bill could disproportionately affect children in care and Indigenous youth, and outlined concerns in its submission including: a presumption against bail in certain cases, including for those prescribed as recidivist young offenders, which would likely substantially increase the number of children in detention; the broad criteria and removal of judicial discretion regarding declaring a person a youth recidivist offender, which may result in fixed and excessive non-parole periods in detention; and the potential for breaches of bail to be considered as a qualifying factor for a child to be dealt with as an adult offender, even though breaching bail is statistically the most common youth offence and reasons for breaches include impractical bail conditions, lack of bail support for young people, and the traumatic personal circumstances of young offenders.
The Law Society of SA noted it had met recently with the Guardian for Children and Young People, Shona Reid, to discuss the SA government's recent measures to address youth crime, such as the Criminal Law Consolidation (Street Gangs) Amendment Bill and the Statutes Amendment (Recidivist Young Offenders) Bill 2025.
"The insights provided by the Guardian into the harmful impact that detention can have on young people, the lack of diversionary or rehabilitation programs for children while in detention and in the community, and the rising costs of keeping an expanding cohort of young people in detention (which could be better deployed in early intervention and prevention programs), reinforce the Society's concerns that the further criminalisation of young offenders could cause more harm and increase the risks of youths re-offending," the Society said after the meeting.
"(We are) concerned that the Bill goes much further than its stated purpose and will have the effect of capturing and disproportionately punishing a broader cross-section of young people, increasing the risk of entrenching criminal intent in these at-risk youth."
