Too many young people are ending up in our detention centres in most jurisdictions in Australia. How we respond to this fact will depend on how we see the problem.
We can see this as a law and order issue; young people commit crime, they do the time. If this is the case, then we had better start a Building the Custodial Revolution program because we will need more centres every year and they're not cheap!
While we're at it we had better take money out of a few services or infrastructure projects each year to fund the recurrent costs that will also increase.
Of course crime is a factor and sadly some young people commit very serious crimes for which we need centres to protect the community or even the young person. Young people should be held accountable for their actions.
But that does not explain (using NSW as an example) how almost 80 per cent of those on remand in a detention centre will not end up with a custodial sentence. Even if we ignore the international conventions that say custody should be a last resort, does it not seem a bit strange that we get the balance wrong 80 per cent of the time?
Even if we just see the problem through the lens of crime, we must also ask if custody is the best outcome for the community. Not in many cases, it would appear, as we also know that community based and restorative justice programs have lower rates of reoffending, therefore keeping the community safer.
Let's look beyond law and order for a moment. How else could we see the problem of young offenders in custody? What leads young people into crime in the first place?
Unfortunately there is no easy predictor of why some young people end up committing crimes and others in the same situation do not, but we do know the risk factors.
Around Australia young people are more likely to end up in custody if they are poor, Aboriginal or have a borderline or lower intellectual disability (IQ below 79), or any combination of these characteristics.
Bear in mind that we live in a wealthy country, that only 2.3 per cent of the population is Aboriginal, and only nine per cent of the population has an IQ below 79.
Those in detention centres probably left school at 14, have problems with alcohol or other drugs, and have often experienced abuse and trauma. Many will have a parent who has been to prison and will live in social housing. In NSW 6 per cent will have been homeless before being placed in custody.
When you look at it this way it makes it hard to see it solely as a law and order issue.
The prevalence of youth in detention is a call to work with communities in trouble and advocate for those over-represented in the system, not from a sense of paternalism, but from a genuine desire to see all young people achieve their potential; to offer them opportunities, and help them believe they can choose to seize them.
When Patrick Dodson won the Sydney University Peace Prize he spoke about how love is often missing in public debates. The more I met young people in trouble, the more I realised he was right.
Love is something that we as individuals, families and communities can give, but governments can't. But we can insist that governments give a helping hand and a shoulder to support families that need it. We can remind them that all people want to be treated with dignity and respect, and that too many children end up in detention.
Graham West is a former Juvenile Justice and Youth Minister in NSW, an advisory board member with Centacare Wilcannia — Forbes and a director of SHINE for Kids.