Bureau to oversee schemes for young offenders

Educating young offenders about the impact of their crimes on their victims will be a high priority for the newly-announced Youth Justice Bureau.

The bureau will oversee initiatives such as having organisations which work with victims of crime, address offenders in detention centres. Young offenders on community service orders will also have their work more directed towards helping victims of crime.

Community Services Minister Eric Ripper today visited the Community-Based Young Offenders' Program in Mount Lawley to see a new victim-oriented initiative already in action.

Young offenders were being exposed to the tragic impact of motor vehicle misbehaviour, with the help of the St John Ambulance.

As part of their court-ordered punishment, young minor offenders were meeting ambulance crews, inspecting their vehicles, and hearing about life-saving work done at traffic accident scenes.

"I am told that for many of these young people, hearing about the blood, shocking injury and hearbreak caused by traffic smashes, comes as a significant shock to them," Mr Ripper said.

"The aim is for this to have a deterrent effect to reduce future offending, and this is a good example of on-going intervention to reduce young offending."

Mr Ripper said the Youth Justice Bureau would build on the foundation of the existing young offenders' services directorate in the Department for Community Services.

The bureau would be responsible for detention centres, court orders, rehabilitation and early intervention programs, and would co-ordinate programs across Government on early intervention and prevention of juvenile crime.

"Emphasis will be given to helping offenders understand the viewpoint of victims, through education, counselling, reparation and community service orders," the Minister said.

Other victim-oriented initiatives which the bureau would be developing, included:

·         allowing victims to nominate a preferred organisation or project where community service work would be done by young offenders;

·         having victims of crime, police, and groups representing people with disabilities, address young offenders in detention;

·         having young offenders work directly to help people with disabilities, such as head injury;

·         creating a 'rapid response group' of community service order offenders to react quickly to calls for repairs to vandalism or juvenile crime damage.