The Minister for Children and Young People, Joy Burch, has announced her plans to make changes to the bail system to have less young people held in detention while awaiting trial.
Joy has released a discussion paper outlining her ideas and had this to say:
One of the planks for reform identified in the discussion paper is the need for better support
for young persons and police in relation to after-hours arrests for alleged offences or breaches
of bail, to prevent young persons being unnecessarily remanded in custody because they are
unable to find suitable accommodation and acceptable supervision outside business hours.“Some Young People are being put into detention for breaches of bail, rather than the offence
they were originally charged with,” Ms Burch said.“We know that periods of detention can be extremely disruptive for young persons in a range
of ways, and by improving supports such as accommodation and establishing contact with
family members we may be able to reduce the incidence of bail refusals.”The models canvassed are designed to support these vulnerable young people to meet their
bail conditions in the first place, while remaining in the community.“If we support them to meet their often stringent conditions, there is evidence that re-offending
is reduced while they are on bail.
Are horrible young scrotes locked up actually a problem?
Submissions can be made until 15 April 2011.