Young lives can be saved

VICTORIA’s Youth Crime Summit is the start of a search for solutions to a complex problem that has drawn police, youth workers, psychologists and educators together.

VICTORIA’s Youth Crime Summit is the start of a search for solutions to a complex problem that has drawn police, youth workers, psychologists and educators together.

Some of the most significant observations made at the summit came from Victoria Police and the Salvation Army.

Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said police found themselves arresting the same people “again and again and again’’.

The Salvation Army’s Major Brendan Nottle said young people who found themselves without a job were left feeling “angry and locked out’’. When a person felt locked, he said, it was “often a very short path before they are locked up”.

Former police chief commissioner Kel Glare called for more police talking to students in classrooms.

The Salvation Army’s Hayley Troemml-Wilson said family violence was a key driver of youth crime.

She gave an insight into this often hidden issue when she said many young offenders did not value the lives of others because they did not value their own.

Finding an answer is the challenge. Not everyone agrees on the way it can be achieved.

Premier Daniel Andrews said giving young people the opportunity to work or study was the key and incarceration was an “apprenticeship” for a life of crime.

The solution is an amalgam of approaches to a trend that calls for immediate action on a number of economic, social and even mental health issues.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton says police find themselves arresting the same people ‘again and again’. Picture: Hamish Blair

There is also a law-and-order issue that cannot be ignored. There must be consequences for those who defy the law and run rampant in the community, using the justice system to their own advantage.

The Herald Sun, which was invited to participate in the summit by Mr Ashton, shares the Chief Commissioner’s concern over repeat offenders.

A revolving door that sees these violent young thugs put back on the streets by courts that too often grant bail helps no one.

This is where programs to discourage young offenders from crime are likely to have an effect. Professor Mark Halsey from Flinders University said involving former offenders had proved successful in decreasing youth crime in other countries.

Why not here? An example is providing young offenders with the chance to learn social skills such as in an outreach experiment that sees teenagers in detention experience a working environment. Some young offenders have told police it is easier to steal than to earn a living.

One police officer remarked before yesterday’s summit that an earlier generation collected footy cards, but a generation of violent young offenders regarded collecting Mercedes luxury cars as a pastime.

Salvation Army Major Brendan Nottle said young people who found themselves without a job were left feeling ‘angry and locked out’. Picture: Hamish Blair

Carjackings are increasing across Melbourne and Geelong, where drivers in target cars are assaulted, sometimes with baseball bats, when they get out of they cars to inspect damage after being “bumped”. If it happens to you, don’t get out of the car. The best advice is drive on.

Many of these youths are from African countries and the Pacific Islands but, while some people oppose identifying their ethnicity, hiding it becomes part of the problem.

The Herald Sun has revealed that some refugee families are sending their children back to Africa, to their extended families or boarding school, in the hope this will turn them away from a life of crime in Australia. They are honest in acknowledging what is tearing their families apart.

Transparency is important. Serious and violent teenage crime is a community problem that also involves white children. But some groupings are more involved than others.

The community must be given the information that will bring the full extent of the issue into sharper focus.

The problem must be acknowledged and analysed before it can be dealt with. The police know they cannot “arrest’’ their way out of one of the most serious youth issues to confront the community.

Those who attended the summit made a number of suggestions, which will be reviewed and presented as recommendations.

While Premier Daniel Andrews has given the summit his support, he must be prepared to seriously consider its findings. At least there must be a road map to a resolution.

A bridge between the disaffected and the broader community is part of that road map. A balance has to be found along the way.

There are ways to improve the justice system to ensure that young offenders do not become hardened criminals.

Former police chief commissioner Kel Glare says more police should talk to students in classrooms. Picture: Hamish Blair

Near- automatic bail for repeat teenage offenders is not part of this. Responsibility and accountability must be part of the justice system.

WHEN repeat offenders are sent to detention, the system must ensure they do not fall under the influence of gang recruiters also under lock and key. Every effort must be made to separate the vulnerable from those who would further corrupt them.

What is causing an unprecedented surge in violent youth crime is understood. Lack of opportunity, unemployment, frustration, anger, low self-esteem, poor education and family violence are all part of this complex and emotive issue.

Doing something to reverse a trend that threatens to ruin young lives and threatens their victims is what the summit hopes to achieve.