Terry Byrnes, Senior Indigenous Youth Justice Worker, North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency -...

At the heart of this program, and indeed this conference

and all of the programs being discussed here, is

rendering justice to our youth.

The role of the North Australian Aboriginal

Justice Agency Senior Indigenous Youth Justice Worker

Or

YJW

Herewith Youth Justice is explored by examining

• The role of the YJW;

• The tension between social work and the law;

• How it different in the Top End;

• How to keep in good shape.

The job description states:

• YJW will work with Indigenous youths who “are

before the criminal courts to identify and address

the causes of their offending through individual

case management”

What is success?

Different people gauge it differently

Many of the young people have yet to be able to see themselves in any other

role than one of offending

‘The question should not be what is wrong with you? But what

has happened to you?’

Sandra Bloom

How does the YJW help the kids through the court system?

• By getting to know them;

• Finding out what their dreams and ambitions are;

• Discovering their strengths;

• Presenting a face behind the offending to the

court;

• Giving verbal or written submissions to the court;

• By persisting;

• We have a separate Youth Justice System for a

reason.

A good youth justice system is a specialised system, created with the

understanding that young people are not just “junior adults”

10 Characteristics of A Good Youth Justice System

Judge C J Harding and Judge A J Becroft

There is another level of

complication:

Working with Lawyers

Although the need for interdisciplinary collaboration is clear, the way to effect it is not.

The lawyer-social worker relationship has traditionally been characterized by uneasiness and even outright antagonism, the source of which is believed to be in the methods of the

two professions. THE SOCIAL WORKER IN THE LEGAL AID SETTING: A STUDY

OF INTERPROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

AUDREY D. SMITH

University of Chicago

We’re different in the Top End

The vast distances

The Remoteness

The Weather

Communication is not the same

Principles

C: a youth should only be kept in custody for an offence (whether on arrest, in remand or under

sentence) as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time;

NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA

YOUTH JUSTICE ACT

As in force at 27 February 2012

Remember Remote?

Numbulwar

“...should be made and implemented within a time-frame appropriate to the child’s or young person’s sense of time”.21 Furthermore, the legislation

recognises the potentially detrimental effects of a significant delay in proceedings.

10 Characteristics of A Good Youth Justice System

Judge C J Harding and Judge A J Becroft

Typical Social Workers

Ensure that the working age population is healthy, and that's both physically and mentally healthy, that they have resilience, that they are engaged in their workplace, and that they are

well managed. Unless you get those things aligned, then you are very often going to have

unhealthy workers who will not be able to perform well.

Carol Black

The Science Show

Radio National

Saturday 21 December

Making the business case is crucially important. One of the things I learnt very early in doing this job is I should never approach anybody with the soft and fluffy, that wasn't going to

work, and I needed to make the business case

Carol Black

The Science Show

Radio National

Saturday 21 December