5. YOUNG OFFENDERS ASSESS the effectiveness of the criminal justice system when dealing with young offenders EXPLAIN why young offenders are treated differently in the criminal justice system This is the only part of Crime where you need to answer TWO big, overall questions about the whole section

The top one is like all the others (assess the effectiveness…) 5. YOUNG OFFENDERS ASSESS the effectiveness of the criminal justice system when dealing with young offenders The top one is like all the others (assess the effectiveness…)

5. YOUNG OFFENDERS EXPLAIN why young offenders are treated differently in the criminal justice system The other one is a little bit different, and we’ll go through it now so you know WHY it is that we don’t treat young offenders in the exact same way as we treat adults

EXPLAIN why young offenders are treated differently in the criminal justice system

Why don’t we just treat them like adults? EXPLAIN why young offenders are treated differently in the criminal justice system There was a big report about Juvenile Justice in NSW in 2010 – don’t worry about remembering the full name of it, we’ll just call it “The Noetic Review (2010)”. It made a whole lot of RECOMMENDATIONS about how to fix our juvenile justice system. But it STARTED with a basic question – WHY are young offenders treated differently in the criminal justice system Why don’t we just treat them like adults? Their (not my) conclusions were basically: Research has shown that young people are less able to make wise judgements because that is the last part of the brain to develop; young people take risks because it is “in their biology”; they are more likely to react with gut instincts and be impulsive. Most young offenders aren’t just acting out of pure self-interest – they have usually been neglected, abused, kicked out of school and often have been drinking and/or taking drugs during their developmental years Treating young people differently must not mean “excusing” their behaviour – it is extremely important for their development that they take full responsibility for their actions (while they are still reassured how important they are)

EXPLAIN why young offenders are treated differently in the criminal justice system An even DEEPER question is to ask (to impress the markers) – “ARE we treating young offenders differently? Like REALLY differently, or just sort of differently? As always, the answer is Yes and No… Yes, you’re going to learn about a whole BUNCH of ways that juveniles ARE treated differently (the Children’s Court; the Young Offenders Act 1997, etc). The goal of juvenile justice is to keep young people out of jail (not just out of juvenile justice centres, but to stop them from ending up in jail in the future) but...

Noetic Review (2010) Recommendation: EXPLAIN why young offenders are treated differently in the criminal justice system NEW SOUTH WALES We have this unfortunate problem in NSW where we have ‘Law & Order Auctions’ at every State election (where Liberal and Labor fight over who is gonna be tougher on criminal scum). Unfortunately, kids get caught up in this as well, because of the way the laws are structured… How do we know this? Well: Except for places like the United States and the Northern Territory, NSW has one of the highest RATES of imprisoning young people IN THE WORLD. More than half the kids that end up in the Children’s Court don’t have a prior conviction recorded (meaning that, possibly for one of their first offences, they are already in court). Noetic Review (2010) Recommendation: Kids should be left out of the ‘Law & Order’ politics in NSW – the focus should be on programs that work to reduce recidivism

‘Provisional Sentencing’. EXPLAIN why young offenders are treated differently in the criminal justice system Recent decision to ‘treat young offenders differently’: After a 13 year-old was sentenced for murder (R v SLD (2002)), the judge recommended that something should be done about the way we sentence young people for murder. The boy got 20 years (10 years non-parole), but the judge wished that he had the ability to let his development be followed to see whether he actually could be released earlier (which didn’t exist back then). The NSW Sentencing Council recommended in 2009 that we bring in a system of ‘Provisional Sentencing’.

Recent decision to ‘treat young offenders differently’: EXPLAIN why young offenders are treated differently in the criminal justice system Recent decision to ‘treat young offenders differently’: In 2013, the NSW government passed the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Amendment (Provisional Sentencing for Children) Act 2013. Children who murder from now on can get a ‘provisional’ sentence (meaning that it can be changed if the judge sees that the child has made a lot of progress towards rehabilitation). The case will be reviewed at least every two years to see if the child has had major developments and whether he/she is likely to reoffend.

SENTENCE ON HOLD FOR KILLER KIDS EXPLAIN why young offenders are treated differently in the criminal justice system Recent decision to ‘treat young offenders differently’: Or, as the Daily Telegraph reported it: SENTENCE ON HOLD FOR KILLER KIDS

Questions Question 1: What are the 2 syllabus questions that must be answered with respect to Young Offenders? Question 2: What is the Noetic Review? Question 3: What were the findings of the Noetic Review? Question 4: Slide 7 states that NSW has one of the highest rates of imprisoning young people. Find out what the actual rate is. Question 5: Slide 8 mentions the case of R v SLD. What did the judge in this case recommend regarding young people? Question 6: What was the result of the judge's recommendation in the case of R v SLD? (this is very important and also relates to the sentencing part of the syllabus) Question 7: How does the media slow down these developments to treat young people differently? (hint: see slide 10)