Your impact just doubled. Sign once and we’ll add your name to the national petition – and, if you live in Victoria, the Northern Territory or Queensland, to your state petition too.
Every child deserves to grow up safe, supported and connected to their family, culture and community.
But across Australia, children as young as 10 are being locked up and subjected to abusive practices including solitary confinement, police cages and detention in adult watch houses, use of spit hoods and restraints, instead of getting the care and opportunities they need to thrive. First Nations children are disproportionately impacted, being 23 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous kids.
These practices can amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under international law. They cause long-term physical and psychological harm and should never happen to a child.
Children have died in custody, and these deaths were preventable. Many of the children caught up in the youth justice system are already living with disability, trauma or the impacts of being in out-of-home care.
We know that locking up children does not make communities safer. It entrenches trauma, increases the likelihood of future contact with the justice system and moves children further away from the support they need to thrive. We also know that children who enter the youth justice system when they are younger are more likely to reoffend.
There is a better way. Community-led solutions help children stay connected to their families, culture and communities while addressing the challenges that can lead to contact with the justice system. They keep children supported, reduce offending and create safer communities. What's missing isn't evidence, it's the political will to act.
We are calling on Australian governments to put children first and take immediate action to:
- Protect every child's human rights through enforceable national minimum standards across youth detention.
- Raise the minimum age a child can be imprisoned to at least 14 across Australia.
- End abusive practices in youth detention, including solitary confinement, restraints and spit hoods, and holding children in adult facilities.
- Guarantee every child access to education, health care, mental health support and meaningful family contact.
- Invest in First Nations community-led responses that support children early, prevent harm and keep communities safer.
Kids need better. It’s time to build a youth justice system that gives every child a chance to thrive.
In Victoria, children as young as 12 are still being subjected to rolling lockdowns and solitary confinement that abuse their human rights. These harmful practices have no place in a youth justice system and must end.
Queensland is locking up children as young as 10 in adult watch houses and using prolonged 'separation, causing severe physical and psychological harm. First Nations children, those with a disability and in out-of-home care are disproportionately impacted. Kids don't belong in prison cells.
In the Northern Territory, the minimum age a child can be imprisoned has been lowered to 10, spit hoods have been reintroduced, and children continue to be held in overcrowded youth detention centres and police watch houses. Almost every child in detention is First Nations. Kids need better.