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Australia’s youth detention system is in crisis. Children as young as 10 are being locked away and subjected to spithoods, solitary confinement, police cages and adult watch houses.
These practices meet the UN definition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Torture is never acceptable. It is prohibited under international law without exception, and there is no public safety or political justification for subjecting children to treatment that causes severe physical or psychological suffering. When governments allow this, they breach their most fundamental human rights obligations.
Children have died in custody. These deaths are preventable. Every day these systems continue to operate as they do, they put lives at risk. This treatment causes lasting harm to some of Australia’s most vulnerable children, many of who are living with disability, trauma or are in out-of-home care.
Decades of evidence show that locking up children does not make communities safer – instead, punitive approaches entrench trauma and disadvantage, increase the likelihood of future contact with the justice system and cost taxpayers on average more than $1 million per child per year.
Australia is not lacking evidence. It is lacking political will. The continued use of practices that amount to torture in youth detention is a policy choice, not an inevitability. There is a better way. Investing in supportive, evidence-based and community-led alternatives is safer, cheaper and far more effective at preventing harm and reducing reoffending.
Amnesty International calls on Australian governments to meet their international human rights obligations and take immediate national action, including:
- Establishing national minimum standards through a National Youth Justice Framework to end torture and all cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in youth detention.
- Fully implementing OPCAT (Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture), ensuring independent, transparent and regular monitoring of all places where children are deprived of their liberty, including youth detention centres and police watch houses.
- Upholding the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including:
- Raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years across Australia.
- Ending all practices that amount to torture or ill-treatment, including solitary confinement, spit hoods and the detention of children in adult facilities.
- Guaranteeing access to education, health care, mental health support and meaningful family contact.
- Legislating enforceable minimum standards so every child in detention is treated with dignity, safety and respect.
- Investing in community-based and Indigenous-led diversion and support programs that prevent harm and keep communities safer at a fraction of the cost of detention.
No child in Australia should ever be subjected to torture.
Victoria’s youth detention system is in crisis – children as young as 12 are subjected to solitary confinement, isolation and rolling lockdowns that meet the UN definition of torture. These punitive practices cause lasting harm, entrench trauma and disadvantage, and fail to make communities safer – while costing taxpayers extraordinary amounts. Evidence shows there is a better way: supportive, evidence-based alternatives are safer, cheaper and more effective.
Queensland’s youth justice system is alarming – children as young as 10 are held indefinitely in adult police watch houses and placed in “separation” for weeks, often without toilets or running water. These practices cause severe physical and psychological harm and, under UN standards, constitute torture. The harm is greatest for Indigenous children, children in out-of-home care and children with disability – compounded by a “tough on youth crime” approach that overrides human rights safeguards.
Youth justice in the Northern Territory is in crisis – the CLP has lowered the age of criminal responsibility to 10, reintroduced spit hoods and continues to detain children in overcrowded youth detention centres and adult watch houses, with Aboriginal children disproportionately affected. The refusal to allow UN OPCAT inspectors signals a retreat from international obligations – children cannot wait any longer.