Children’s Court of NSW Resource Handbook
Home
Table of contents
Recent updates
Search for:
Criminal — President’s speeches
Updates in the Children’s Court jurisdiction: 2018
P Johnstone
[19-1000]
Introduction
General updates
President of the Children’s Court of NSW reappointed
Closure of Bidura Children’s Court and opening of the new Surry Hills Children’s Court
Magistrate capacity and circuits
National Judicial College of Australia “Family Violence in the Court” training for the Children’s Court of NSW
The continuing relevance of brain science
Schooling issues
Updates in the criminal jurisdiction
Declining number of children in detention
Youth Koori Court
Criminal case law
RP v The Queen (2016) 259 CLR 641
Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) v GW [2018] NSWSC 50
Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) v Saunders [2017] NSWSC 760
“How to turn a child offender into an adult criminal — in 10 easy steps”
Step 1: Leave families alone to sort themselves out: “Ignore risk and erode resiliency”
Step 2: Make the age of criminal responsibility as young as possible and get children into court as soon as possible
Step 3: Criminalise welfare issues
Step 4: Treat all young offenders as if they were the same.
Step 5: Always arrest the child if they offend, especially the first time no matter what the circumstances. Be firm and disrespectful, and always bring them to court.
Step 6: Sideline the child offender in the justice response. Ensure the child is marginalised and does not participate. Prevent any contact between the offender and the victim
Step 7: Always enter a conviction on the child’s record. And make no allowance for youth at sentencing: “adult time for adult crime”
Step 8: Convicted young people need a sharp shock; in praise of corrective training, boot camps, and scared straight programmes
Step 9: Segregate young offenders from their families, communities and victims. Wherever possible, aggregate them together in treatment facilities and in prison
Step 10: If all else fails, use “what works” for child offenders, but deliver it badly
Grey matter between right and wrong
P Johnstone
[19-2000]
Introduction
Part 1 — Moral culpability and sentencing
Part 2 — Neurobiology and adolescent development
Part 3 — Brain development and childhood maltreatment
Part 4 — Conclusion