Mission Australia continues to do both interesting research and good programs. You can read more on their site about what they are doing in relation to young people who break laws and end up in the Juvenile Justice system. Here are some highlights:
Mission Australia’s spokesperson, Anne Hampshire, said an upturn in the number of young people in custody, high levels of recidivism and the significant cost of locking young people up highlighted the need for alternatives to addressing offending behaviour.
“Around 13,000 young people go through state/territory juvenile justice systems every year. Nearly 1000 young Australians are in detention on any day and numbers are at a four-year high” said Ms Hampshire.
For example, in NSW it costs in excess of $150,000 to keep a juvenile in custody for 12 months.
For example, Pasifika a program for young people from South Pacific Island backgrounds in Sydney’s south west has been running since 2005 with strong results.
Independent analysis of Pasifika shows that in the six months following their referral to the program offence rates among participants were cut by more than half.
Serious offences such as assault were reduced by close to two-thirds.
Sixty-five per cent of participants had not re-offended within 12 months of program completion.
Impressively, these outcomes were achieved for around $2500 per person the average cost of an individual receiving Pasifika’s support for three-six months.
Something that works…AND saves money.