By Nigel D'Souza
"Lock them up and throw away the key" is the logic of the new legislation on young offenders in Western Australia. It is likely to increase greatly the number of young Aborigines in prison.
There is a process of "criminalisation" occurring in WA, Aboriginal children being punished by the state for refusing to placidly accept racism and poverty.
The background to the Juvenile Crime (Serious and Repeat Offenders) Sentencing Act 1992 is a series of high-speed car chases over the last 12 months which resulted in the deaths of 11 people. Demonstrations as large as 20,000 were held demanding that the government take "tough" action against the drivers of these stolen cars, who happened to be under the age of 18.
Less publicised but related was the public discussion of the report of the Legislative Review called "Laws for People". This review of the Community Services Act 1972, the Child Welfare Act 1947, and the Welfare and Assistance Act 1961 was established in 1987. It presented its final report early in 1991 to the minister for community services, Eric Ripper, who then sought public responses to the report and its recommendations.
In this phase of public discussion, the "lock 'em up" brigade raised its head. The proposals of the report are in fact quite enlightened as far as child welfare and juvenile justice legislation go. The changes suggested would have greatly reduced the grossly high rates of Aboriginal children being scooped up in the juvenile justice and child welfare net.
Aboriginal children — an estimated 4.2% of the WA population between the ages of 10 and 17 — are 13% of children appearing before the Children's Suspended Proceedings Panel and 66% of those with sentences to detention centres. They are 21% of children found to be maltreated or at serious risk of mistreatment, and 46% of children in out of home or alternative care.
The report also endorsed the "Aboriginal child placement principle". This states that Aboriginal children removed from their families should be placed with members of their extended family if possible, or with another Aboriginal family, preferably in the same geographical area.
Through 1991, however, there was a concerted campaign by the right wing (in both Liberal and Labor parties) and the media to kill off the progressive aspects of Laws for People.
The campaign was directed at the provisions that would have benefited hundreds of Aboriginal children who are currently sucked into a system that criminalises them and creates the high rates of adult Aboriginal imprisonment.
Police harassment of Aboriginal people and their children is a well-known fact in WA. Families have fled the state for fear of their lives and because they desire a "normal" upbringing for their children.
The role of the police in the fatal high-speed chases has not been questioned. The federal human rights commissioner, Brian Burdekin, recently revealed the existence of a document in which the police commissioner and senior police discuss their unofficial policy of harassing "potential" young offenders.
But the sight of thousands of mainly white people demonstrating was enough for the embattled WA Labour government. With their minds firmly on the impending election, they did an about-face and hurried the new legislation through parliament.
Burdekin says that the law contravenes Australia's obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The federal government in such instances would have the power to intervene, but is unlikely to do so unless it expects to gain votes from the exercise.
The losers, as always, are the Aboriginal people. But growing opposition to the act may yet force Carmen Lawrence's government to back down.