The views and experiences of young people in detention centres

In this report young people provide a perspective on how our youth justice and other human services are functioning. This ongoing research project investigates the views and experiences of young people in Queensland’s detention centres, looking at the circumstances surrounding their entry to detention, the promotion of their safety and wellbeing, and their expectations for their transition back to the community.One hundred and ten young people participated in the last round of research in late 2008. Each young person completed a brief self-report questionnaire with the assistance of detention centre teaching staff and staff from the Queensland Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian. The survey findings reveal that nine in ten young people in Queensland’s youth detention centres feel safe while in detention and that young people in detention are participating a range of educational, recreational, cultural, and therapeutic activities. The findings also show that only half of young people in detention are confident that they would be taken seriously if they told staff they felt unsafe or worried about something, which may act as a barrier to young people reporting risks to their safety. The Commissioner has called for greater transparency in the complaints handling processes in youth detention centres, to ensure young people are confident that complaints will be taken seriously. This report is part of a larger research project being conducted by the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian that also includes biennial surveys of children and young people in foster care and residential care