NCJ Number
148684
Date Published
1993
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This paper considers the adequacy and vision of Queensland's Juvenile Justice Act 1992 and the Children's Court Act 1992, questions the extent to which they appropriately respond to the causes and consequences of juvenile crime, and examines the potential they offer for increased confidence in the juvenile justice system.
Abstract
The Juvenile Justice Act 1992 and the Children's Court Act 1992 repeal the juvenile justice provisions of the Children's Services Act 1965. These laws provide the legislative framework for the administration of juvenile justice in Queensland. The legislation is explicitly based on "justice model" principles. This means it is based on the assumption that the child is primarily responsible for his/her behavior; consequently, the court's responsibility is to adjudicate guilt or innocence, and having established guilt, to issue a sentence proportionate to the juvenile's deeds and culpability. The Juvenile Justice Act establishes as a principle of juvenile justice that a juvenile who commits an offense should be held accountable and encouraged to accept responsibility for the offending behavior and be punished in a way that will give the juvenile the opportunity to develop in a responsible, beneficial, and socially acceptable way. There is little in the Juvenile Justice Act, however, to indicate that the extent of disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal youth within the juvenile justice system will not be exacerbated by the model underpinning the legislation. The Act does provide for cautioning by Aboriginal elders and suggests that the court may take into account cultural factors in sentencing. These are limited initiatives, however, which do not fundamentally impact on the logic or approach of the Act. 29 references