Youth worker airs Juvenile Justice Bill fears

An Alice Springs youth worker says she has grave concerns about many aspects of the Northern Territory Government's Juvenile Justice Bill, which was introduced into Parliament yesterday.

Antoinette Carroll from Reconnect Youth Services says under the Act, juveniles may be held in adult detention centres.

She is also concerned juvenile cases still will not be heard in a closed court.

Ms Carroll says the Government has missed the opportunity to bring the Territory into line with other states.

"All of the states have closed courts for juvenile matters, Alice Springs does not have that and has not had that ever ... they're open courts, their matters are heard at an open level, which again can be quite distressing for young people and families supporting young people," she said.

Mc Carroll is concerned the legislation could exacerbate the problems of young offenders, particularly those who are petrol sniffers.

She says she is concerned the Bill would mean tougher sentences for people caught stealing petrol under new legislation banning petrol sniffing.

Ms Carroll says tougher sentences will not help deal with the causes of a petrol sniffing addiction.

"So it is going to impact greatly in many ways," she said.

"In other states ... drug courts have been established for young people and there's been some very effective models out there to work with juveniles in the criminal justice system and to think that we haven't embraced even one of them up here is absolutely fascinating."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Fri, 06 May 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia Web)
Copyright: 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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