By Emma Webb

ADELAIDE -- Chris Sidoti, the human rights commissioner, was the guest speaker at the Youth Affairs Council of South Australia annual general meeting on November 13. Sidoti addressed myths surrounding youth crime and compared juvenile justice legislation in the various states of Australia.

Sidoti took as his starting pointing the myth peddled by both media and major political parties that Australia is in the throes of a "youth crime wave". He stated categorically that this was untrue.

Youth crime has stayed at the same level for over a decade. In fact, only 4% of young people commit criminal offences. Of that 4%, 70% never have contact with the juvenile justice system again. Only 15% appear twice. That means a grand total of 0.6 % of young people commit offences twice or more.

Despite these facts, the media beat-up has continued. The myth of the "youth crime wave" has been used to justify attacks on the rights of young people.

In NSW, police are to be given powers to disperse groups of young people on the grounds they have reasonable suspicion they are likely to intimidate people. In Queensland and WA, police already have these types of powers.

In Queensland there have been significant increases in penalties for young people, including life imprisonment for some crimes. Police are now able to fingerprint someone without formally laying a charge, and cautions for young people will form part of their criminal record.

The Queensland government plans to double the number of detention beds. Sidoti estimated that the Queensland government must be spending around $12 million in doing this. As he pointed out, this occurs at the same time as funding to community organisations, youth services and Aboriginal organisations is being cut.

The Northern Territory has perhaps the most draconian legislation, requiring mandatory detention for young people on their second offence, regardless of how minor it is. In WA the government set up at boot camp for young offenders a number of years ago. After spending $2.8 million, the government finally closed the camp in May.

Sidoti said that there have been community-based projects dealing with juvenile justice that have had some success and need to be tested on a larger scale. However, many of these projects have lost funding after a short period of time.

Part of the problem with government approaches to juvenile justice, Sidoti said, has been counterposing the rights of young people, including young offenders, and the rights of the community. Addressing youth crime can't be done by scapegoating young people, but rather by giving young people a role in the community, a say over their lives and by addressing broader social problems.

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