Conference Paper

Author: Atkinson, Lynn
Title: An overview of juvenile detention in Australia
In: Paper presented at National Conference on Juvenile Detention
Imprint: Australian Institute of Criminology, 10-13 August 1997
Url: https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/proceedings25.pdf
Description: 'An overview of juvenile detention in Australia' provides an Australian history (including Western Australia) of juvenile detention from the earliest days of colonisation until 1993. The paper covers issues such as: the move from institutionalisation to 'boarding out'; the need to protect and control children and young people; the role of private providers in juvenile detention, the relative lack of focus on the needs of girls in detention; the role of police custody in juvenile detention; and snapshots of juvenile detention centres in Australia from 1992-1997 (1993 only for Western Australia). The paper highlights the over-representation of Aboriginal people in youth detention and the fact that, in Western Australia, the detention centres are in Perth and so Aboriginal youth are sent from all over the State to be incarcerated far from home.