Juvenile Justice Advocates for more Multisystemic Therapy
Twenty-five years ago, the Australian state of Queensland lowered the age a youth is considered an adult from 18 to 17. This flew counter to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, international law and the rest of the country.
Now, Queensland is rethinking this, following an abuse scandal at the Northern Territory’s Don Dale facility that has the country questioning how juvenile offenders are treated.
Appalling video was aired this year showing young people in Don Dale being tear-gassed, a boy hooded and strapped to a chair reminiscent of cruelty at the Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay prisons, and other instances of abuse. While Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was “deeply shocked,” he didn’t shut down the facility.
Others in Australia are calling for action to reform the juvenile-justice system overall. Jodie Leary, an assistant professor of criminal law/international criminal law at Bond University, is one of them.
The Don Dale abuse “shone a much-needed light on youth justice in Australia. Important questions are being asked about why these children were treated this way in detention. But we also need to ask why children are being detained at all.”
In a call for reform, she argues that adolescent brains have not matured to the point of being fully cognizant of consequences. “Changes during puberty lead young people in search of excitement and reward, especially in the presence of peers.” And therefore, you can’t hold them fully accountable as you might adults. Incarcerating them is futile if the goal is to stop them from reoffending. That comes from the American Psychological Association, with which the United States Supreme Court concurred.
Is incarceration the answer?
There are those that argue that incarceration is needed to keep communities safe. But does it really if those young offenders only become adult offenders? And what effect does it have on the youth? It’s been found that detention can result in “significant harm” to children who often have intellectual disabilities; little education; abuse substances; are in poor mental and physical condition.
Leary maintains there are effective alternatives to detention, alternatives that have already proved successful. They include Multisystemic Therapy (MST) and Functional Family Therapy (FFT). “These programs target children with complex behavioural problems, involve the child’s family, and are community-based. They aim to provide a holistic approach—engaging, for example, with mental health services and education providers.”
She adds, “in addition to being more effective than detention, these programs are more cost-effective than detention.”
Only time will tell what actions are taken in Australia to improve its juvenile-justice systems. But at least, it’s being discussed.
Suellen Lembke is the Senior Advisor for Evidence Based Programs Practice and Quality at Life Without Barriers in Sydney, Australia.
To learn more about why MST is a cost-effective intervention, download this white paper.
