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youth justice

Wednesday, June 19

Wade relents to pressure over contentious youth drug Bill

Health Minister Stephen Wade will today propose a suite of changes to a SA Government Bill to enforce mandatory drug treatment on young people, following criticism the proposed legislation would breach several of Australia’s human rights obligations.

Questions remain over controversial SA youth drug bill

Children won’t be sent to youth detention centres under a SA Government plan to enforce mandatory drug treatment on young people, the Health Minister says, but advocates are still concerned about the proposed legislation.

The State Government wants children to be detained if they fail to comply with drug and alcohol treatment orders.

SA drug bill risks another Stolen Gen: Aboriginal Health Council

The head of South Australia’s peak Aboriginal health body has warned that a State Government plan to enforce mandatory drug treatment on young people risks dispossessing Aboriginal children of their culture.

SA youth drug bill would breach UN convention: human rights lawyers

A group of interstate human rights lawyers say a South Australian Government plan to enforce mandatory drug treatment on children would breach several of Australia’s human rights obligations.

“This is what happens when hard cases make bad law”

Changes to how young people are sentenced for serious crimes will crush any hope of them leading effective lives outside the justice system, says a lawyer and researcher who has interviewed every juvenile offender serving a current sentence for murder in South Australia.

Mandatory drug treatment "punitive": Children's Commissioner

South Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People has labelled the Liberal Government’s plan to introduce mandatory drug treatment for children as a “punitive” approach that breaches young people’s rights.

Shut down Don Dale and reform juvenile justice: royal commission

A Northern Territory royal commission has recommended the closure of Darwin’s notorious Don Dale Detention Centre, raising the age of criminal responsibility and ending long periods of isolation and restraint for child inmates.