JUVENILE OFFENDERS, DIVERSION PROGRAMS

349 Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (4 October 2011) (First Session).

1. What has been the aggregate number and percentage attendance rates for juvenile offenders directed to participate in Diversion Programs in each year since 2006?

2. How many of those individuals directed to attend these programs have subsequently gone on to re-offend?

3. How many of those individuals directed to attend these programs did not attend and have subsequently gone on to re-offend?

4. How many of those individuals directed to attend these programs did not attend and have been subsequently prosecuted for either their non-attendance or for their original offence in each year since 2006?

5. What has been the aggregate number and percentage attendance rates for juvenile offenders who have been directed to participate in these programs, who then have gone on to re-offend and subsequently been diverted again into the same programs on—

(a) one occasion;

(b) two occasions;

(c) three occasions;

(d) four occasions; and

(e) five or more occasions?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Business Services and Consumers): I am advised of the following information:

1. The three Diversion Programs in place for juvenile offenders are:

Youth Court Assessment Referral Drug Scheme (CARDS)

Youth Court Diversion

Family Conference

Youth CARDS

Youth CARDS targets young people appearing in the Youth Court or diverted to a Family Conference who have a drug or alcohol problem which is related to their offending. Eligible youth are referred to a community based drug and alcohol treatment service for 4 treatment sessions over a 4 month period and return to court for sentencing with a report of their treatment progress that is taken into account. Youth CARDS has now been discontinued.

Youth CARDS

Youth Court Diversion

Youth Court Diversion targets young offenders who have mental illness, intellectual disability, brain injury, personality disorder or neurological disorder. The program diverts the individual to appropriate services in the community and monitors progress for a 6 month period.

The percentages completion rates are worked out by subtracting those still in treatment from the accepted number.

Youth Diversion Program (commenced April 2008)

Family Conference

Matters meeting the criteria for diversion from court under the Young Offenders Act 1993 (the Act) can be referred to a Family Conference. To be eligible for diversion, the Act requires that the youth admits to the offence and, in the opinion of the police officer in charge of the investigation of the offence, the matter should be dealt with as a minor offence due to:

(a) the limited extent of the harm caused through the commission of the offence; and

(b) the character and antecedents of the alleged offender; and

(c) the improbability of the youth re-offending; and

(d) where relevant—the attitude of the youth's parents or guardians.

Family Conference

2. The Courts Administration Authority's (CAA) IT system is not able to track defendants through the criminal justice system, and is therefore unable to provide these types of statistics.

3. As for question 2.

4. Both Youth CARDS and Youth Diversion are voluntary programs and there are no sanctions for failure to attend. All participants are returned to Court at the end of the program and sentenced for the original offence.

If a youth fails to attend a Family Conference, they are referred back to SAPOL who can either informally caution, formally caution or proceed to court. The following table shows how many youths have been referred back to SAPOL as a result of failure to attend a Family Conference, or for failure to comply with a Family Conference undertaking:

Youths referred back to SAPOL

5. Two individuals were referred again to the Youth Diversion Program following completion and a third was referred as an adult to the Magistrates Court Diversion Program.