Existing national standards for juvenile detention centres

Introduction

20.26 National Quality of Care Standards (QOC Standards) and Design Guidelines for Juvenile Justice Facilities in Australia and New Zealand (Design Guidelines) were developed for the juvenile detention system under the auspices of the Australasian Juvenile Justice Administrators (AJJA) forum and endorsed by all States and Territories in 1996.^[45] A second set of QOC Standards is being developed and is currently in draft form. They apply exclusively to juvenile detention centres. The endorsed and draft national QOC Standards are particularly relevant for this Inquiry in that they provide guidelines for programs, services and legal processes provided in detention. While reference will be made to the Design Guidelines, the main focus will be on the QOC Standards.

Development of the Standards and Guidelines

20.27 The Design Guidelines and QOC Standards were developed with reference to several international instruments, including CROC,^[46] and the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody report.^[47] A broad consultation process also informed their development. The Design Guidelines were based on the results of a questionnaire and workshop held in 1995, involving representatives of all States and Territories of Australia and New Zealand. The QOC Standards were developed by reference to literature reviews, professional comment from social workers, psychologists and youth workers and consultations with young people in detention. However, there was no consultation with non-government organisations.^[48]

Implementation of Design Guidelines and QOC Standards

20.28 The endorsed QOC Standards cover issues relating to alcohol and other drug services, recreation, education, employment and training programs and health services. The draft QOC Standards cover complaints mechanisms, case management programs, visits and correspondence, offender programs, behaviour management and living environment and emphasise the young person’s right to natural justice mechanisms. The Design Guidelines encompass a very broad range of issues relating to the layout and environment of juvenile detention centres.

20.29 Generally speaking, the standards and guidelines provide comprehensive provisions to ensure quality treatment and protect the rights of children in detention. However, they do not deal with some important issues, such as regulation of discretion for dealing with criminal offences committed by children in detention, the provision of inspections and Official Visitor’s schemes, separation of children from adults and the transfer of children to adult prisons.^[49] Although the QOC Standards cannot be expected to cover every issue in relation to detention centres, these issues are sufficiently important to be included in the QOC Standards. To this end, the Inquiry considers that a consultation and review process should be undertaken to refine the standards. This process should be undertaken by AJJA in consultation with OFC and focus particularly on bodies not consulted in relation to the QOC Standards, such as community organisations dealing with children. The completed QOC Standards would then form a part of the national standards for juvenile justice. The Inquiry envisages that the national standards for juvenile justice would set the framework, require best practice and establish benchmarks for implementation by each jurisdiction as appropriate.^[50]

20.30 A number of jurisdictions have incorporated the Design Guidelines and QOC Standards in their detention procedures manuals or policy documents. Some have explicitly referred to them, while others appear to have reflected the underlying principles in their manuals.^[51] The Inquiry acknowledges the positive initiatives of some State and Territory Governments in recent years to create a more humane and rehabilitative environment for young people in detention. However, the lack of a national body to monitor implementation of these standards has meant that their implementation has been ad hoc. As a result, treatment of children in detention continues to vary between jurisdictions and over time in accordance with the political priorities and the electoral concerns of governments. Moreover, in many areas, there are serious questions as to whether the treatment of juveniles in detention meets the standards set out in the relevant international treaties and guidelines to which Australia subscribes. Submissions to this Inquiry and many earlier studies and inquiries, including the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the NSW Ombudsman’s Inquiry into Juvenile Detention Centres, suggest that it does not.^[52] There is clearly a need for national monitoring of standards in detention centres. A number of submissions to the Inquiry stressed the importance of the Commonwealth’s role in bringing a national focus to detention^[53] and the need for implementation of these standards to be monitored.^[54] Once the Design Guidelines and QOC Standards are completed and become part of the national standards for juvenile justice, their implementation should be nationally monitored by OFC.

Informing the community and children

20.31 There appears to be very little awareness of the QOC Standards in the community. They are not referred to in the literature on juvenile justice and only four submissions to the Inquiry, all of which were from government departments, mentioned them.^[55] There is a clear need for more information, consultation and education about the QOC Standards.

20.32 The completed QOC Standards should be distributed to all involved in juvenile justice, including community organisations, legal practitioners and youth workers dealing with children. A version of the standards appropriate for children should also be distributed to every child in detention on admission or as soon as possible after that. Draft QOC Standards provide that each juvenile detention centre should make a statement of rights and responsibilities available for every child in detention. This is also provided in some jurisdictions.^[56] The Inquiry endorses this. We also recognise that any statement needs to be supplemented in a form more accessible to children.^[57]

20.33 A brief, ‘plain English’ version of the Issues Paper was prepared specifically for children as part of this Inquiry.^[58] The NSW Department of Juvenile Justice has recently commissioned the production of a series of Streetwize comics for children in detention to present their rights and responsibilities in an easily understood form.^[59] The Inquiry recommends that States and Territories use similar methods to inform children of their rights and responsibilities in detention.