PIAC’s submission to this inquiry drew heavily on previous work, including our submission to the 2017 Royal Commission into Indigenous Incarceration, as well as the report into NSW Police’s Suspect Target Management Plan.
The submissions makes a number of recommendations to reduce the rates of youth detention, and especially the detention of your Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including:
- That NSW Police discontinue applying the STMP to children under 18, and instead use evidence-based programs for youth diversion (including supporting Just Reinvest)
- That the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody be fully implemented
- That arrest and detention, including arrest for breach of bail, be used as a last resort and that this be expressly provided for in relevant legislation
- That proactive policing targets should not be set by NSW Police in relation to children under 18 and
- That the criminal age of responsibility should be set to at least 12, with consideration of raising it to 14.
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