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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-10-31 Daily Xml
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Statutes Amendment (Youths Sentenced as Adults) Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 28 September 2017.)

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (16:33): Given that last sitting week I spoke at some length on a similar bill to the one before us, I do not intend to speak at any great length today, but can I just say that this government has yet again sought to bring into force a range of measures that disregard our human rights commitments under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

As the Guardian for Children and Young People, the Youth Affairs Council of South Australia (YACSA) and the Law Society in their submissions and comments on this bill have noted, this bill does not take into account a child's cognitive development. We now know, based on research, that the brain is not fully developed until young people are up to 25 years old.

The bill contravenes well-established international legal principles. The bill is likely to fail to achieve its desired outcome of reducing serious juvenile crime. There is no evidence to suggest that it will work and plenty to suggest that it will not. These measures completely ignore the need for rehabilitation of young offenders in particular, as I spoke about at some length in my last speech.

The Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement reminds us that 15 Aboriginal juveniles died between May 1989 and May 1996: five of these deaths were in institutional settings; four juveniles died in adult prisons; and one died after escaping from a juvenile detention centre. So, given that the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement opposes this bill on that basis, given that the Guardian for Children and Young People opposes this bill, and given that the Youth Affairs Council of South Australia (YACSA) and the Law Society, representing the legal profession, oppose this bill, we, in the Dignity Party, simply cannot give our support to this ill-thought out and retrograde bill.

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (16:35): This bill will give the courts the ability to use the sentencing principles of adult offenders rather than youth offenders when sentencing juveniles who have been tried as adults. I understand that the primary sentencing consideration for adults is to protect the community from harm, whereas for young offenders rehabilitation is the key sentencing consideration. Rehabilitation should be the key principle for the sentencing of young people, except in the most severe circumstances. Advance SA recognises that there are exceptional circumstances where the safety of the community may be placed at risk if rehabilitation is the primary sentencing consideration. It would be unacceptable to allow for there to be a risk to the community for the sake of rehabilitation.

During briefings on this matter, I was advised that the courts will have discretion as to whether they sentence youths as adults or not. I am glad that this is the case, as Advance SA has serious concerns that this bill could see 10 year olds and 11 year olds being sentenced as adults. I think there are very few people in the community who would think that 10 year olds and 11 year olds should not have rehabilitation as the primary sentencing consideration except in very rare and exceptional circumstances.

I am glad the courts will have discretion and that it is not automatic that youths tried as adults will be sentenced as adults. We will rely on the court’s discretion for this but it is important that these concerns are put on the record.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.M. Gazzola.

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