Juvenile Justice In Australia Essay

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Youth detention is designed to house Juvenile crime offenders rather than placing juveniles most commonly aged 10-17 in prison they are sent to Juvenile Detention centres. These Juveniles commit more property crime then violent crimes, and generally will commit less serious crimes like graffiti, shoplifting, vandalism, motor vehicle theft, fare evasion, road traffic offences and unlawful entry. However in early years in Australia children as young as six years old were once incarcerated for these crimes. However in today’s society the approach to young offenders is quite different. Prison is now seen as last resort solution for most juveniles. Juvenile Detention centres are managed by Youth Justices Services, they follow the belief that young …show more content…

As rehabilitation is emphasised as a goal of detention in a number of different detention policies documents and procedure manuals. In New South Wales juvenile justice is commonly used to refer to a state’s criminal justice response to children who have committed an offence or allegedly committed an offence. In NSW the age criminal responsibility is at 10 year. And under criminal law, a child under the age of 18 years. In some jurisdictions, the function of juvenile justice resides within human services agencies and is not viewed purely within a criminal justice context. In New South Wales, the Department of Juvenile Justice is considered both a justice and human services agency.
The police state the detection and investigation of crime is the responsibility of New South Wales police. For eligible and entitled young offenders, the police may use the alternatives to court of warnings, cautions or referrals to youth justice conferences that are set out in the Young Offenders Act 1997. In court proceedings, the majority of juvenile charges brought by the police are dealt with by the Children’s Court under the provisions of the Young Offenders Act 1997 and the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act

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