Graham Ashton: Keep youth connected and remove temptation of crime
ONE of the ways to address youth crime is to give young Australians a sense of purpose and keep them connected to society, writes Graham Ashton.
Opinion
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THERE are many moments in a young person’s life that help set the direction for their future: the relief of hearing that you have passed your last school exam, the excitement of being offered that job over somebody else, that sense of mateship when you step out on the sporting field for the grand final.
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But when you take all that away and replace it with frustrations, a sense of rejection or a lack of opportunity — what are you left with? There’s a good chance that you are left with feelings of isolation, a lack of purpose or focus, or a lack of belonging.
It’s not surprising, then, when some young people decide at that point to take the first step on the very slippery slope to criminal offending.
Despite the youth crime rate in Victoria being in slow decline, serious and repeat criminal offending by our youth has been an issue that has presented challenges for Victoria Police over the past two years.
We have had to develop a more sophisticated approach to enforcement that has addressed what is a new style of offending. Young offenders today are more commonly networked through mutual friends and on social media and they’re more mobile than ever before.
Our response across the state, as well as improved intelligence through our Monitoring and Assessment Centre, has allowed us to better address these kind of challenges.
But we’ve also tried to better understand what is behind the issue of youth crime and why it is now more visible in our society today compared with in the past.
We have heard loud and clear from some young people that they feel “locked out” of employment, training and education.
Such a lack of access to jobs with career prospects, training and education means our youth come to believe that street life is more appealing than the regular working world.
It’s a universal human truth that we all want to know that we are valued, that we have a purpose in life and that we matter.
With that in mind, it’s evident that access to education, employment and training plays an important role in shaping a young person’s future.
That is why Victoria Police is hosting its second Youth Summit next week; and this time the summit’s focus will be on “pathways to employment”.
It will bring together more than 200 experts from industry, academia, the community, government and non-government organisations to discuss ways to best support our young people in the search for meaningful employment.
All of us need to explore ways to give our youth the kind of opportunities that are more attractive than crime.
THE more we can keep young people engaged in education or employment and the more they stay connected to the community, the better their life outcomes will be.
We know that solutions exist and there is a lot of goodwill in the community and among employers, but that is often wasted on what comes down to a lack of connection.
Our Youth Summit will connect employers, agencies and young people, and I’m excited by the prospect of what it can bring.
By providing clearer pathways for our youth to gain training and employment, we’re giving them opportunities to gain that sense of belonging and achievement that we all strive for.
We need to invest in young Australians, support them in finding jobs they can be passionate about and give them the opportunity to get experience early.
If we can succeed, we know that it will reduce their interaction with the justice system.
That is particularly true for groups who face more barriers than others to finding employment, including those people from new and emerging communities.
The drivers of criminal offending are complex and to address them we need to take a holistic approach involving our entire community.
That’s why it’s crucial for police to work in partnership with other government agencies, as well as with industry and the community sector, to ensure young people feel engaged, supported and valued by society.
I certainly don’t have all the answers. But we’re fortunate to be supported in this endeavour by the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the aim is to open up the doors and remove barriers within the system.
On behalf of the nation’s young people, we must commit to a course of action that will build clearer pathways to employment for them.
Action is needed now so that we’re not responding to the same issues, or worse, in the future.
Let’s give our young people the chance to succeed. Let’s give them the pathway to a brighter, more positive future.
The Chief Commissioner’s 2017 Youth Summit, Pathways to Employment, will be held at the MCG on Wednesday November 1.
Graham Ashton is Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police
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