Life Without Barriers has joined the coalition of Aboriginal, human rights and legal organisations in condemning New South Wales government plans to introduce "punitive law and order measures that will result in more children in jails".
The group noted that in the week of Closing the Gap Day (21 March), the NSW government has announced new legalisation that includes changes to bail laws "which will result in more children and in particular, more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children potentially being sent to jail".
Aboriginal and legal organisations across NSW have expressed urgent concern, saying the changes will only make regional NSW communities more dangerous.
Life Without Barriers Manager of Evidence-Based Programs and Implementation, Suellen Lembke, said the organisation "stands firmly" with NSW's Aboriginal and legal peak organisations in "condemning any proposal that results in more children in jail and less engagement with NSW's youth".
"When children are incarcerated, they emerge for the most part unchanged, often even more criminalised and with even more barriers in their futures," Ms Lembke said.
"Evidence tells us that locking young people up does not lead to sustainable change, often it exacerbates the underlying issues associated with offending and allows the underlying causes around offending to continue. It can actually leave communities worse off in the long term.
"We know what works to reduce youth offending. Over 30 years of research has shown that a program like Multisystemic Therapy (MST), for example, achieves excellent, long-term results for young people and families because it addresses the root causes of anti-social behaviour. By working with a young person's family, extended kin, culture, school, peers and community, we can leverage the strengths in these systems to affect and sustain change, often at a much lower cost to the taxpayer."
Ms Lembke said it "doesn't make sense" for the state government to "ignore" programs and systems already in place to "help young people engage with family, community and culture".
"With Close the Gap Day this week, we implore the NSW government to be prioritising measures that fast-track failing targets, not locking kids up," she said.
Life Without Barriers said it encourages the government to "take advice from experts in the legal and community sectors" by implementing the three-point youth crime prevention plan outlined by these groups involving: resources allocated for local communities to support after-school, evening and weekend activities that engage at-risk young people; intensive and targeted programs and responses for at-risk children with appropriate referral services; and formal community partnerships between police and Aboriginal controlled services.
The Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT, the NSW Bar Association and Amnesty International Australia along with 500 academics, advocates, lawyers and health experts have voiced their opposition to the government's bail plans.
