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Aboriginal Law Bulletin

Aboriginal Law Bulletin (ALB)
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Cunneen, Chris --- "Aboriginal Kids in Police Cells: NSW Returns to the 19th Century" [1989] AboriginalLawB 61; (1989) 1(41) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 12


Aboriginal Kids in Police Cells:
NSW Returns to the 19th Century

by Chris Cunneen

The NSW government is currently rushing through an amendment to the Children (Detention Centres) Act 1987 to facilitate the holding of juveniles in police cells and adult prisons. The bill is seeking `to enable a child who is on remand or who is the subject of a detention order to be detained in a police station ... in certain specific circumstances'. No time limit is specified. The bill will also enable a court to make a general remand order in criminal proceedings against a child of or above the age of 16 years' and `to enable a court to remand the child to prison'.

The amendments will see the consolidation of the current defacto situation where there has been an increase in the number of children being held in police cells awaiting court appearances. The reason for the increased use of police cells is linked to overcrowding in juvenile detention centres. The number of juveniles in detention centres has risen from 380 in June of this year to a current figure of around 430. At least 25% of those children are Aboriginal. The growing number of incarcerated juveniles is partly attributed to the government's `truth in sentencing' reforms which saw the abolition of remissions and the introduction of minimum sentences. The reforms affected both adult and juvenile sentences. Early figures from the Department of Family and Community Services indicated a 44% increase in time served by juvenile offenders after the first month of operation of the new New South Wales sentencing act 1989. Departmental estimates indicate an increase of 250 (or 58%) in the number of children in detention centres after the sentencing act's first year of operation.

With juvenile detention centres already full, there is a strong demand on the use of police cells for children remanded in custody. This demand will grow as more youth receive longer sentences and decrease the available space for those on remand. The legislative amendments will simplify procedures for holding juveniles in police cells for extended periods. In the second reading speech, Minister Tim Moore said that the amendments would;

strengthen provisions designed to ensure that juveniles accommodated in police cells are kept separate from adults, are provided with some useful means of occupying themselves, [and] are detained in a physical environment appropriate to their age, level of maturity and behaviour patterns of younger people.

Such views appear distant from the reality.

The Principal Legal Officer with the Western Aboriginal Legal Service, Eric Wilson, has described the police cells in many western and northwestern towns where Aboriginal children are held as `antiquated'. He said:

Police cells in Broken Hill, Wilcannia, Wentworth and Dubbo are dreadful. They are dark, damp, inhumane and entirely unsuitable for holding young people.

The only difference between the adult cells and the designated juvenile cell was that the juvenile cell contained a bed rather than a mattress. The only other contents in either adult or juvenile cells were the blankets and stainless steel toilet. Wilson condemned any legislative change which would further encourage the use of police cells for detaining young people. He described the trauma of a young Aboriginal boy held in Broken Hill police cells for three days in virtual isolation, without adequate supervision or outside contact.


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