As criminological perspectives of youth justice shift from rehabilitative ideals to desistance frameworks whereby young people assume a central role in their own identity-development and relationships with others, child-centred approaches that afford youth with agency and voice have been seen as increasingly important. However, noting that…

In 1900, the Westbrook Reformatory for Boys, an institution holding both young people convicted of criminal offences and those deemed to be neglected children, was established in a farming region in Queensland, Australia. The institution would remain in the same location until 1994. By then, it had been rebranded as a Youth Detention Centre,…

Music has been welcomed to juvenile justice institutions as a transformative practice supporting the rehabilitation of youth offenders to citizens. However, acknowledging that such institutions are not neutral instruments of the law but political arenas within which notions of ideal citizenship are imposed and contested, the transformative work of…

Purpose: This paper draws on the archival records of the Victorian Education Department, literature produced by the governing authority of Tally Ho (the Central Mission), and newspaper reports produced in the mid-20th century about school and education at Tally Ho. This paper also draws on material from the Victorian Aborigines Welfare Board and…

This paper draws on transnational education inquiry from Guatemala to Australia. Grounded in field research on Indigenous matters, this paper offers fractal education inquiry as a proposition to interrupt the straight and spatialized notions of time that produce developmental, salvific, and progress-centric aspirations from which educational…

This study offers a cross-national comparison of stakeholders' awareness of the implementation of reintegration policies and practices for incarcerated youths by juvenile justice agencies. Similarities and differences in perceptions of 14 stakeholders from the US and 20 from Australia were collected and analyzed using a self-report measure.…

In 1991, the Australian Government released the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Report. Of the 339 recommendations, "Recommendation 62" identified that there was an alarming over-representation of Indigenous youth in contact with the criminal justice system. The report called for immediate action by governments to…

Background: Individuals with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) are at greater risk of contact with the criminal justice system. Diagnosis and appropriate treatment of SLCN reduces these risks, leading to better life outcomes for the individual as well as broader social and economic benefits. These youth represent a particularly…

Purpose: This article explores the case of the Queensland's reformatory for boys through the years 1871-1919 to analyse how the institution negotiated the complex, and at times competing, goals of reforming, educating and punishing its inmate population. Design/methodology/approach: The article relies on documentary evidence, including archival…

This article takes up the challenge offered to educators, researchers and policy-makers in the "Ngaga-dji" report, to reflect on the ways in which services and institutions need to change to better support and work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and their families and communities. "Ngaga-dji," which…

Reflecting an international shift from punitive to more rehabilitative responses to youth offending, many Australian youth justice systems are undergoing significant revision and reform. The urgency of these changes are intensified by longstanding inequities pertaining to the gross overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether empathy is capable of mediating the relationship between perceived parental support and juvenile delinquency. This hypothesis was tested in a path analysis of 3,865 (51% male) Australian schoolchildren (mean age = 12.4 years at first wave) using three waves of data with two years between each…

The aim of the study was to identify transition planning processes as reported by participants for school-aged youth serving custodial sentences in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, and to establish the extent to which these reflect current evidence or research-based transition practices reported in the literature. The authors used inductive…

Psychological trauma is swiftly becoming one of the most significant public health concerns and obstacles to effective education in the current teaching climate. This paper responds to my experiences as both a secondary English teacher and registered psychologist, examining the potential utility of trauma literature in the English classroom for…

Like many countries, Australia has persistent rates of school exclusion, juvenile offending and recidivism. In response, there has been a growth of 'alternative education' provision -- interventions that support young people to engage with learning opportunities outside the conventional education system. While alternative education programs…