What the Northern Territory’s experience with state interventions reveals is that rather than protecting young people, it has placed them at greater risk of mistreatment and trauma.
Rather than assisting in prevention and allowing children to mature out of offending, juvenile detention does the opposite.
AAP/Neda Vanovac
Important questions are being asked about why children were abused in juvenile detention in the Northern Territory. But we also need to ask why children are being detained at all.
Should places like the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre even exist?
AAP/Neda Vanovac
Worldwide, around 30 million people enter and leave prison each year. Of these people, around 4.5 million have hepatitis C, almost 1 million have HIV and 1.5 million have hepatitis B infections.
The rate of suicides in jails is increasing.
REUTERS/Jim Young
A few high-profile cases of jail inmates who committed suicide reveal only a fraction of the problem. NYU expert digs into why jail suicides may be on the rise – again.
As a country that claims to uphold the human rights of all – including those before the law – Australia should take notice of international practice when it comes to life imprisonment.
Inmates walk outside their cells at San Quentin State Prison in June 2012.
Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
The undeniable difference between men and women when it comes to committing crime should be reflected in a fundamentally different approach to the sentencing of women.
The United States could have a more productive discussion about prison reform, if we admitted the problems with prisons also affect our poorest communities.
The numbers of people in Victoria’s prisons are unsustainable and in part due to recent policy changes.
AAP/Paul Miller
Victoria is failing in relation to rehabilitation of prisoners and post-release support. The consequence is that more people are imprisoned, more often.