Never give up - call for united action on juvenile crime
Opinion
As the issue of juvenile crime once again sparks intense debate in the community, Mgr David Cappo, the Catholic priest behind a ground-breaking report on juvenile crime, has urged the Malinauskas Government to re-look at the recommendations.
There is a loud call to lock up more young people who have committed serious crime, so that we can keep the South Australian community safe.
I agree that there is a small group of young hard-core offenders who will need to be in secure care for a time for community safety, and intense supervision and support when released.
But something is very wrong, when, as I was recently told, there are more than 60 juveniles in secure care in South Australia, 60 per cent of whom are Aboriginal youths and 30 per cent from African countries. Are all of these young people serious criminal offenders? And what is behind such alarming percentages and racial groups?
It would be very wrong for readers to give a simple response and blame the Aboriginal community and various African communities for current youth crime in SA. No! Something deeper is occurring behind these alarming trends, and the Government and the police need to get together with groups of community leaders and work this out, quickly.
I urge the community of South Australia to be in solidarity with its fellow citizens of all racial backgrounds as we work this through.
We are the one South Australian community. Instead of blame and scapegoating, let’s work this out for the common good of all.
My time in leadership roles addressing social issues in SA was some decades ago, so why am I commenting on the youth crime of today? For two reasons.
Firstly, in 2007 as the Social Inclusion Commissioner, I delivered for the Rann Government a report titled To Break the Cycle: Prevention and rehabilitation responses to serious repeat offending by young people. This was at a time when youth crime appeared out of control with the so called ‘Gang of 49’.
Secondly, in a recent radio interview, Shona Reid, an exceptional person, Aboriginal leader and the Guardian for Children and Young People in SA, mentioned my report and suggested that the Government take a good look at its recommendations, many of which have never been implemented.
I agree with her. It is a 61-page report with 46 recommendations. And it has the moral authority of the community through serious community consultation with business owners, families, carers, police, judiciary, community organisations, Aboriginal leadership, and young offenders.
The Rann Government put $15 million on the table for government departments to begin responding. Yet in a 2010 radio interview I said I was disillusioned by the lack of progress in the bureaucracy and gave juvenile justice reform only a one out of 10, while I gave an eight out of 10 for reform in school retention and homelessness.
The 46 recommendations include hard ones such as strengthening the requirement to take account of community safety when sentencing, with responses to this recommendation to be coupled with an increase in rehabilitation programs; some high-level repeat and serious offenders could be treated as adults considering the gravity of the offence; and imposing harsher penalties on adults who commit crimes in the presence of young people.
The recommendations also look at prevention and supports such as early intervention and assessment of first offenders who show ‘red flag’ profiles for ongoing offending. This includes family dysfunction, domestic violence, neglect or abuse, absence from school, and alcohol and drug abuse.
For families where there is evidence of multiple and long-term neglect of children, there should be parenting and adolescents at risk programs as well as transition planning before release from secure care.
The report recommended an increased focus on reparation to victims and the community by young offenders; access to programs to address adolescent drug and alcohol misuse and mental health needs; and involving young offenders and young people at risk in behaviour change programs such as Operation Flinders and sports programs.
We must give judges and magistrates more diversionary and rehabilitation options other than secure care and we need to be careful that breaking of bail conditions is not used to lock up the non-hard core offenders.
I want to mention the South Australian Police because SAPOL has a very public role in responding to and reducing juvenile crime. It is important that they have the trust of the community.
I worked closely with SAPOL senior officers between 2002-2011 and in preparing my report I was impressed with senior management understanding of social issues and of their problem-solving approach.
But like any organisation they have their challenges and must be vigilant in attending to them. I have worked with many police forces around the world, and I rate SAPOL up with the best. I know they will continue to take seriously their need to work closely with community groups, the Aboriginal community as well as communities from African countries.
Whether we come from a religious background and believe that equal human dignity derives from being made in the image of God, or we come from a secular background and believe that it derives from the uniqueness of each person as a rational and self-determining agent, we are all called to overlap in common values, to grow as human persons in relationships of equality and reciprocity as we care for one another.
This is the foundation on which we build our community life, and in our response to juvenile crime, as we overcome racism, prejudice, disadvantage and distress. We must never give up! We need to do everything possible to bring our young people who commit crime back from the edges of our community.
I hope that someone in the Malinauskas Government can find the time to read the 2007 To Break the Cycle Report. It is still relevant and speaks to the common good of all in South Australia.
– Monsignor David Cappo is a former Vicar General of the Archdiocese and was Social Inclusion chair/commissioner from 2002-2011. He currently works in mental health reform in East Africa.
