Youth Koori Court expanded under $20m Indigenous justice package

A groundbreaking court for young Indigenous people will be expanded to a third location in NSW and a Local Court program involving Aboriginal elders in criminal sentencing decisions will be extended.

Attorney-General Mark Speakman will on Monday announce the $20 million plan aimed at tackling the over-representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system.

Aboriginal elders Uncle Greg Simms,centre,and Uncle Wes Marne,left,conduct a smoking ceremony to mark the opening of the Youth Koori Court at Surry Hills in 2019. The court is being expanded to Dubbo.

Aboriginal elders Uncle Greg Simms,centre,and Uncle Wes Marne,left,conduct a smoking ceremony to mark the opening of the Youth Koori Court at Surry Hills in 2019. The court is being expanded to Dubbo.Kate Geraghty

The Local Court’s circle sentencing program,which involves Indigenous offenders’ communities in sentencing decisions in approved cases,will receive $4.2 million to extend its geographical footprint from 12 locations across NSW to 20.

A further $9.8 million has been earmarked for community-led justice reinvestment pilots,aimed at addressing the drivers of crime. And $5.8 million will go to expand the Youth Koori Court to Dubbo.

Judge Nell Skinner,President of the Children’s Court,welcomed the funding for the Youth Koori Court,which was set up inside the Children’s Court in Parramatta in 2015 and expanded to Surry Hills in 2019. The court is expected to be operational in Dubbo early next year.

INDIGENOUS JUSTICE PACKAGE

The NSW government will announce a $19.8 million funding package on Monday,including:

The court aims to divert young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander offenders from prison by tackling the causes of crime and involves a range of participants,including Indigenous elders,family and friends,youth workers and representatives from the Department of Family and Community Services.

The parties work with offenders aged between 10 and 17 in an informal setting to devise an action and support plan implemented over six to 12 months. At the end of the program,the offenders are sentenced by the court and their progress is taken into account.

The court had moved away from a “transactional” model of justice,Skinner said,and gave young Indigenous people opportunities and intensive support to make changes in their lives. This might include assistance with accommodation and education,securing identification documents,or drug and alcohol support services.

The court engaged young people in the process of identifying their goals and how to achieve them,Skinner said.

“Nobody changes their life because a court tells them to change it,” she said. “People change when they are ready and able,and the Youth Koori Court supports young First Nations people to live a better life.”

A report by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research,published in April,found participants in the Youth Koori Court were 40 per cent less likely to be given a custodial sentence compared with a young Indigenous person sentenced via the standard Children’s Court process. There was no adverse impact on re-offending rates,BOCSAR said.

In a report last year,the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare said “half[410 of 819] of all young people in detention in Australia on an average night in the June quarter 2021 were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people”,while Indigenous people made up just 6 per cent of the Australian population aged 10 to 17.

Magistrate Sue Duncombe,who set up the Youth Koori Court in 2015,said about 190 young people had participated across both sites. The presence of Indigenous elders in the court made a “huge difference”,she said.

She said “the majority of support and office-bearers” in the room at Youth Koori Court were now Indigenous,including a Koori court officer and youth justice officers.

“I think that is a huge benefit for the young people. I often hear young people say something like,‘I wouldn’t mind doing what she’s doing,’ pointing to someone around the table,” Duncombe said.

Uncle John Bolt,a Bundjalung man who has been involved as an elder in the circle sentencing program since its inception in Nowra 20 years ago,said he had seen offenders “resurrect their life”.

The sentencing process,which excludes serious offences such as sexual assault,involves four elders in the sentencing discussion along with the magistrate,the offender and their lawyer,the victim and a support person and the police prosecutor.

The program worked well in Nowra,Bolt said,and reoffending rates were very low. Offenders appearing before the circle “have a lot of respect for the elders” and had the opportunity to speak about “what’s caused them to do a lot of the things”,he said.

Bolt said he would like to see circle sentencing expanded across the country to help prevent young Indigenous people being incarcerated for “small offences,not serious offences”. His late son Robert,an accomplished artist,was the first person to participate in circle sentencing in Australia.

A BOCSAR studypublished in April 2020 found circle sentencing was “associated with lower rates of incarceration and recidivism”. Offenders undergoing circle sentencing were 3.9 percentage points less likely to reoffend within 12 months than similar offenders sentenced via traditional means,the report said,and took 55 days longer to reoffend if and when they did.

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Michaela Whitbourn is a legal affairs reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.

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