Combining existing vulnerabilities with the traumatic environment of the detention centres means that young people are at a particularly high risk of abuse while in detention.

The only youth detention centre in Tasmania is set to close soon, with plans in place to replace it with another facility.

Children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder are being subjected to harmful punishment in a system that fails to recognise their disability.

We know what is happening to children to detention. The question is why is it still allowed to continue?

The placement of juvenile detainees in police watch houses and adult prisons is a national problem, and one that is often not recognised for what it is: solitary confinement.

Chronic understaffing in Australia’s youth detention centres is forcing children into prolonged lockdowns and isolation.

Children in Australian youth detention centres continue to be held in conditions amounting to solitary confinement, despite official claims that the practice is prohibited.

Solitary confinement causes measurable harm to the human brain, and when it is used on children, that harm can be permanent.

The over-criminalisation and imprisonment of Indigenous youth in Australia means that they are disproportionately subjected to harmful and traumatic youth justice practices.

Millions of public dollars are spent each year on isolation practices in youth detention that damage children and entrench long-term failure.

The holiday season represents one of the biggest sources of joy that children around the world get to experience every year. But each year, children in detention are forgotten.

On the International Day of People with Disability, Australia faces renewed scrutiny over how children with disability are treated in youth justice.

This year’s World Children’s Day celebrates the right of every child around the world to play. However, the implementation of this right across Australia’s youth justice centres has been inadequate at best, and non-existent at worst.

The word ‘rehabilitation’ is included in the sentencing laws of every Australian jurisdiction, promising systems that support children to return safely to their communities, yet many children in detention are still locked alone for long periods without education or support.

This National Children’s Week, we are reminded to protect children’s rights we first need to understand where and how they are being violated.

Rehabilitation focused alternatives in Australia’s youth detention system are far more effective than solitary confinement in reducing reoffending and supporting young people to thrive.

Solitary confinement in youth detention is often sold as a ‘tough-on-crime’ solution, but the evidence tells a very different story.

Solitary confinement continues in Australian youth detention centres because of the powerful myths that mask its true impact.

On August 20, 2024, the ‘Help Way Earlier’ Report, released by the National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds, was tabled by Federal Parliament.

1989 marked a historic shift in the world’s commitment to children’s rights, when the international community decided to adopt the UNCRC.