Enough is Enough: Mental health checks key to reducing Indigenous crime
Mental heath checks of all youths entering the youth justice has been suggested as a new tactic in the fight against an alarming over representation of Indigenous youth offenders within the justice system.
Cairns
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Checks of all youths entering the youth justice system for foetal alcohol syndrome has been suggested as a tactic in the fight against an alarming over representation of Indigenous youth offenders within Queensland justice system.
According to the latest report on government services released in January the average number of Queensland Indigenous young people in detention was 177 compared with 90 non-Indigenous inmates and accounted for about 70 per cent of all children in detention each day.
Behind the Northern Territory and Western Australia the ratio was the highest in the nation.
On Tuesday every News Corp daily newspaper in the state joined forces to demand more be done to stem a youth crime epidemic.
The Enough is Enough campaign calls for a commitment from both the government and Opposition to publicly publish every six months the state’s results on three key performance indicators – the measures experts say are central to turning around the scourge of youth crime.
In line with the national average the Enough is Enough campaign calls for a reduction of the rate of Indigenous young people in detention from 40.9 per 10,000 young people to 28.3.
Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive officer Katherine Hayes said Indigenous youth incarceration rates were “heartbreaking”.
“And it’s not because they are aboriginal. It’s because they are poor, come from families with violence and alcohol and other substance abuse, mental health and they are not engaged in school or training, these are the big ticket items that will create offenders,” she said.
“NSW has a higher aboriginal population and they don’t have this problem of over representation in the justice system.”
Often under emphasised, Ms Hayes, said undiagnosed mental health disorders afflicting young offenders such as foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASDs) were a major contributor to offending rates.
As a measurable key performance indicator she has called on the government to test each young offender the moment they enter the youth justice system.
“We have the mental health aspect that needs to be properly assessed and addressed. I do think FASD is a big problem,” she said.
But the underlying cause of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder also needed to be looked at in tandem with dysfunctional home life.
“Domestic and family violence needs to be assessed and addressed, I think that if there are kids at school that are at risk of becoming disengaged they need to be identified and there needs to be an intervention, from an education and community perspective,” she said.
“If they are not engaged they are likely to end up on a bad path.”
Youth worker Ken Harley with years of experience helping disadvantaged kids in Far North Queensland agreed foetal alcohol syndrome was an issue not often talked about.
He suggested a way to break a cycle of youth offending is to attach a boarding facilities to state-run schools as respite for kids from violent and dysfunctional homes.
Working for years to gain the trust of teens Mr Harley has become an informal carer for scores of kids in Kuranda and Cairns desperate to escape a destructive cycle of drinking and drug use that goes hand-in-hand with an unstable, stressful and often violent home life.
He looks after valuables, offers clothes washing, a place to have a shower and helps find clothing and shoes for kids forced onto the street but remain motivated to finish school.
“There are kids in Kuranda that leave high school that can’t read and write. It’s a disgrace,” he said.
“And they keep lowering the bar to get more teachers into the job and they still can’t keep up.
“If kids come from a poor economic background they can’t expect to achieve and they get out of school without basic literacy and numeracy skills.”
Mr Harley said many Indigenous youths turn to crime by simple virtue of having to fend for themselves on the street while often struggling with untreated mental health issues such as foetal alcohol syndrome.
And despite the billions poured into youth support services and the residential care system many kids still can’t access basic health care and education support.
“I see them struggle,” he said.
“I know a 10 year-old who prostitutes herself, others are trying to put themselves through school.
“When you deliver meals in Cairns and Kuranda I run into so much foetal alcohol syndrome, their mothers have poisoned them in the womb.
“They are born drunk or with ice in their system. They don’t drink milk or eat vegetables and this results in mental health problems, living on the street and absolute mayhem in the schools.”
Last November it was revealed 788 children were locked up in the Cairns watch house in the 12 months to September last year.
A further breakdown of the data found there were 546 Indigenous boys aged between 10 and 17 held in police watch houses for two to six nights compared with 123 non Indigenous boys.
For girls locked up in the same period Indigenous females outnumbered their non Indigenous counterparts at a rate of 112 to 10.
The former Weipa-based aboriginal liaison officer self-finances the support offered to struggling kids in need and operates a drop off point for donations of clothes and shoes.
Mr Harley has urged a greater focus on supporting troubled teens to stay in school, which he believes to be the key in turning around the Queensland crime epidemic.
“From the time they are born they see violence and they are buggered up,” he said.
“We have to start working with them to get them away from the situation and into to boarding school type situations.
“We have to put boarding at the school or near the school. They will go to the boarding school to get away from the hell on earth they are living.
“And they have got to reform the schools, they have to take the principal away from the management of the school and have a CEO.
“If we can’t stop this, just imagine what the adult prison population will be in 15 years.”
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