Young Women in Custody: The Yasmar Experience (From ... And When She Was Bad? Working With Young Women in Juvenile Justice and Related Areas, P 49-57, 1996, Christine Alder and Margaret Baines, eds. -- See NCJ-165370)

• NCJ Number: 165376
• Author(s): G Clancey; D Kirwin
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: National Clearinghouse for Youth Studies
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

This paper provides an overview of Yasmar Juvenile Justice Centre and the developmental history of the Young Women in Custody Program.

Abstract

Yasmar Juvenile Justice Centre is located approximately 15 minutes from the heart of Sydney (Australia). The facility accommodates a maximum of 34 young women in two separate units. The Ramsay unit houses up to 21 women who are either on remand or serving warrants. Once the women have appeared before the court and are sentenced to the care of the Department for a specified period, they are relocated to the Dobroyde unit, the committal unit. The women in the Dobroyde unit are allowed greater autonomy and encouraged to accept greater responsibility for their behaviors than those in Ramsey. Yasmar has been operating the Young Women in Custody Program since March 28, 1994. Under this program, the level of programming, the quality of case management, and the quality of the individual intervention have all improved. This is largely due to the creation of more staff positions in these areas, which is permitted a concentration on service delivery rather than on having one person overseeing a variety of service areas. There is a need for further research into what is happening with young women in custody. The only way that the juvenile justice system can improve is by having better trained staff entering the system, improving interactions with juveniles, improving the services provided for juveniles, and by having the developments in research drive the system.