“child welfare” reasons, according to some interviewees. Also interviewees believed that young people who committed serious or particularly violent offences, those with extensive criminal histories who were therefore more likely to re‐offend, or who had previously violated bail conditions were more likely to receive custodial remand.
Offence Characteristics
Several police officers stated that the rate of violent offences was increasing, and particularly amongst female juveniles. Consequently because of the nature of violent offences, these young offenders are more likely to be remanded in custody.
Supervised Accommodation Services
All stakeholders agreed that there is a serious lack of accommodation services which often leads vulnerable young people to be remanded in custody. While a lack of suitable accommodation is a significant problem in the Brisbane area, it is even more challenging to find suitable accommodation in regional areas, and particularly for Indigenous or “difficult” young people.
Although not all young people entering the juvenile justice system were from disadvantaged backgrounds, stakeholders agreed that the majority, and particularly the recidivist offenders were more likely to come from dysfunctional families with few or no resources to effectively support and supervise the young person. The researchers were told that many of these young people have high needs including substance abuse and mental health problems. Not surprisingly, given the specifications in the Juvenile Justice Act 1992 to consider the welfare of the young person when making decisions about remand, these young people needed to have suitable accommodation before they could be released on bail.
The majority of stakeholders rated lack of accommodation as the most important factor driving custodial remand. The researchers were told that there were very few services which could accommodate juvenile justice clients, and that it was practically impossible to find a placement for a difficult young person. We were told that it was almost impossible to get stable, suitable accommodation for a young person even in Brisbane. While some stakeholders believed that YBASS has helped to provide accommodation services to young people, there is still a lack of available placements. Stakeholders suggested that YBASS services now focus more on maintaining young people at home, rather than supporting independent living arrangements. Therefore the young people who are probably most vulnerable to being remanded in custody because of a lack of appropriate accommodation appear to be the least likely to have access to relevant services which could support bail according to interviewees.
Stakeholders stated that even when young people were involved with, or under the guardianship of the Department of Child Safety, most often placements were still not found for young people. Some interviewees stated that many Child Safety Officers appeared to have little interest in young people once they were involved in the juvenile justice system. They reported it was often difficult to engage Child Safety in locating a suitable placement for young people and they believed that some Child Safety officers viewed custodial remand as a safe and appropriate placement for young people. Other interviewees acknowledged that Child Safety Officers also faced significant challenges because of the lack of placement options for young people once they were involved in the juvenile justice system. They stated that some Child Safety Officers worked hard to find suitable placements for young people, but the underlying problem was the unavailability of appropriate placements.
Juvenile justice workers reported that it was particularly difficult when their clients were also under the care of the Department of Child Safety as they were then reliant on the department to find and approve a suitable placement for the young person. Consequently many juvenile justice clients were perceived by interviewees to be “falling through the cracks”. The researchers were told that it was important that the Department of Communities’ workers be able to make placements for these young people.
Police, magistrates, and prosecutors all emphasised the importance of having accommodation options which were able to provide adequate supervision for young people. Police and prosecutors in particular emphasised their responsibility for balancing the needs of the young person by avoiding their unnecessary detention with an obligation to protect both victims from further interference and the community from the young person’s re‐offending. Curfews are used in bail conditions for serious or recidivist offenders to decrease the risk of re‐offending, so from the perspective of police and prosecutors a placement that offered only limited, or no supervision would not be a suitable alternative to custodial remand. Similarly, many programs offered through the Department of Communities only occur during the day. It is later at night that most young people are at the greatest risk of re‐offending.
Many stakeholders also stated that there was a need for different levels of accommodation which included both emergency (short‐term) and longer term accommodation options. According to stakeholders, some young people lack long‐term accommodation options which need to be addressed to avoid homelessness which is a serious risk for re‐offending. Short‐term accommodation options only provide a temporary solution for these young people.
Bail Support Programs
Stakeholders agreed that bail support programs were an important resource in keeping young people out of custodial remand. It was their view that while theythought the Conditional Bail Program was generally a good initiative they stated that:
• there were not enough of these programs available so that at times bail applications had to be withdrawn because the services to support a conditional bail program were not available;
• sometimes programs did not provide the level of supervision required for the young person, and particularly at night when they were at the greatest risk of re‐offending;
• at times programs concentrated on “keeping the young person busy” rather than taking the opportunity to address their criminogenic needs and trying to reduce the risk of recidivism;
• many young people who were doing very well on a conditional bail program often re‐offended after the program ended.
All Magistrates reported that they were willing to use appropriately supervised bail programs to avoid inappropriately remanding a young person in custody. As one magistrate pointed out, “Provide me with appropriately supervised programs and I will use them”. Police also supported the appropriate use of bail support programs when offenders had not committed very serious offences, they did not represent a serious risk to the victim or the community, bail entailed no significant risk to the young person and adequate supervision could be provided to decrease the likelihood that the young person would re‐offend while on bail.