Perceptions of the treatment of juveniles in the legal system

A Report prepared for the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS) in 1992 by Christine Alder, Ian O'Connor, Kate Warner and Rob White

This report is the property of the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme.

Contents of Report

The interaction between police and young people has been a source of increasing concern in most Australian states and territories. In 1990 the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS) commissioned the present study of young people in the justice system which focused on police/youth relations. The study examined four areas: legislation and policy; the relationship between young people and police; police/youth programs; and legal information services for young people. A total of 382 young people, 90 police and 69 youth legal advocates from four states (Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia) were interviewed. Additional information was obtained by questionnaire from Legal Aid Commissions and Community Legal Centres.

The young people who were interviewed were predominantly 16 and 17-year-olds, with roughly equal numbers of young women and young men, and included young people from both Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander and non-English speaking backgrounds. They were selected from three different locations (schools, shopping centres or malls, and youth hostels and youth service centres). They were asked about their involvement in police-youth programs, the frequency and type of contact with police, their attitudes to and perceptions of police, and their knowledge of legal rights and services.

Police officers from Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia were interviewed. Most were under the age of 30 and were Australian-born males. They were asked about the frequency and type of contact they had with young people, the groups of young people they found most difficult to deal with, their experience of being abused by young people, their views on the use of force against young people, and their knowledge of young people's rights.

The youth legal advocates were asked about the types of interaction with police which young people reported to them, young people's knowledge of their legal rights, and the adequacy of methods for investigating and resolving complaints against police.

The review of legislation and policy (Chapter 2) revealed a number of areas where there was inconsistency between jurisdictions, or where there has been some erosion of the protection originally intended by legislation or policy. These included: the requirement to have an independent adult present when police question a juvenile; the right to have a lawyer present and the obligation to be informed of that right; notification of parents or guardians about questioning, arrest, charging or cautioning of a young person; restrictions on fingerprinting juveniles; conditions for granting of bail; and mechanisms for dealing with complaints against police. On a more positive note, the review noted a strong policy trend towards the use of procedures such as court attendance notices instead of arrest, and the recognition in legislation of a diversion from court through schemes such as cautions and panels.

The results of the young people's survey (Chapter 3) indicated that most of the respondents had been involved in some type of police/youth program – most frequently a school visit or a blue light disco. While young people themselves did not think these programs had an effect on their thoughts regarding police, the data suggest involvement in school visits or Neighbourhood Watch is related to more positive perceptions of police. While many young people had attended a blue light disco, there was no significant relationship between involvement in this form of activity and perceptions of police. While participation in school visits was related to perceptions of police for some young people, there was no significant relationship for conventional youth or for youth from non-English speaking backgrounds.

There were no differences in the proportions of young men and young women involved in the different programs. However, marginal youth were less likely to have experienced a school visit, or to be involved in Neighbourhood Watch. Young people who were born overseas, or who had parents who were born in non-English speaking countries, were less likely than other young people to be involved in the social group activities of blue light discos and police youth clubs. Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander young people were the group most likely to be involved in these particular types of social programs, but were the least likely to be involved in Neighbourhood Watch.

A third of the respondents had asked the police for help at some time. Most frequently this was for information such as time or directions. Almost as many young people had been to the police as victims of crime or to report a crime. About half of those who had sought assistance were not satisfied with the response they received, in general because they did not think that any follow-up action had taken place. This is a higher level of dissatisfaction than is suggested by studies of the general population.

A high proportion (80%) of the interviewees had been stopped and spoken to by the police. This most frequently occurred on the street or in public buildings (e.g. railway stations) and shopping malls while they were just "hanging out" or "walking" in a group or by themselves. While weekends were frequently nominated as the time when they were most likely to be approached by police, many young people made no distinction between weekends and weekdays when nominating the time that they were most likely to be approached.

Aboriginal youth were more likely than other young people to be stopped; boys were also more likely than girls, and marginal youth were more likely than others. In fact, almost all males (94%), Aboriginal youth (98%) and marginal youth (96%) had been stopped by police.

Half of the young people had been taken to a police station. Few thought that the police had treated them with respect or had treated them fairly. Of the third of the sample who reported being "roughed up" by police, well over half of these (68%) identified a police station as the location where this occurred.

Overall, the description by the young people of their treatment at police stations is cause for grave concern. Not only were half (53%) held in police cells, many reported being held for eight or more hours and many also reported being held in a cell with adults, or with adults and other young people. The majority (70%) said that they were yelled at or sworn at, just over half (55%) said they were pushed around, and 40% said they were hit.

In general, the majority were not able to avail themselves of their rights as set out in standing orders or legislation: less than a third were told about their rights, were able to make a phone call or believed that the police had attempted to contact a support person. Only a third had an adult (other than the police officers) present while they were being questioned, and over half were fingerprinted.

In general, the findings indicate that the police were more likely to be heavy-handed in their dealings with young men, Aboriginal youth and marginal youth. These groups were more likely than other youth to be stopped and spoken to by the police, taken to a police station, and to report being roughed up. At the police station these same groups were more likely to report being yelled at or sworn at, being pushed around, and being hit by police.

It was clear from the data that the type and level of formal contact with police had a significant impact on young people's attitudes to police. In general, young people who have experienced police-initiated contacts are less likely to have positive attitudes towards police than those who have not. Further, the more serious the level of contact, the less likely it is that the young person will have positive attitudes.

While most young people (83%) knew that they did have certain rights when stopped by the police, far fewer knew what these rights were (42%) and most said that they needed more information (82%). Young people tended to think that lawyers were difficult to understand and expensive, and consequently the majority did not think that young people went to lawyers when they needed them. This was probably compounded by the tendency to believe that lawyers were unfair to young people, and that they did not really understand young people.

Across the issues addressed in this section of the research (police program involvement, perceptions of police, formal police experiences, knowledge of rights and access to lawyers), there was no clear pattern of differences between the states.

The results of the police survey (Chapter 4) indicated that the majority were involved in activities in the community in which they were stationed, and over half had contact with young people beyond their street contact. However, less than 20% were involved in specific community-based police/youth programs. Very few (3%) had completed tertiary education, although close to 40% were currently enrolled. Most (77%) had no specific training of any sort on issues concerning youth.

Young people made up a significant proportion of the people with whom police dealt. Overall the officers indicated that while working with young people took up a substantial proportion of their time, demands of "paperwork" took up more.

Police officers indicated that most of their contact with young people occurred during afternoon and evening shifts, and they most frequently nominated malls and shopping centres as the areas where the activities of young people were of particular concern.

While three-quarters of the respondents did not find young people in general difficult to deal with, many did specify "street kids" and "gangs" as particularly difficult. Aboriginal youth were the third most frequently nominated difficult youth group, particularly by Queensland and West Australian police. While slightly more officers nominated 13 to 15-year-olds as more difficult than other age groups, overall no specific age group stood out as especially difficult for most officers.

The most frequently offered explanation for why some youth were particularly difficult was by reference to their general misbehaviour and lack of discipline. Other explanations included family problems and cultural gaps between the officers and the youth (especially in the case of Aboriginal youth).

Most police contact with young people involved such activities as providing information, assistance, warnings and telling young people to move on. The more "serious" aspects of police work, including arrest, undertaking searches and issuing summonses and cautions, involved a much smaller proportion of the types of interactions between young people and police.

The factors most frequently specified by police officers as influencing their decision to deal formally or informally with young people were the degree of cooperation shown by the young person, and the seriousness of the offence. Almost as many officers thought that the young person's attitude was also an important factor in this decision.

Over half the police officers believed that half or most young people respect the law and its officers. However, that left just under half of the officers who thought that few or very few young people had such respect. The officers' observations regarding the respect of youth for the law are probably influenced by their experiences of youth attitudes and behaviour towards them as individuals. Virtually all (98%) of the officers said that they had been assaulted or harassed by young people in the course of their work, although just over half of these reported that the harassment did not happen all that often. The kinds of harassment most commonly referred to included verbal taunts, and being shouted and sworn at. Fewer officers reported assaults with a weapon, although a majority (52%) said that at some time they had been punched by a young person. In general, Queensland police were more likely than those in Western Australia or Tasmania to report most forms of abuse.

Most police officers (82%) reported having to apply force to a young person at some time. There was very little difference across the three states on this issue. In almost every case, the use of force was explained as a form of self-defence or as a response to the young person resisting arrest.

Many police officers (57%) felt that too much physical force was sometimes used in dealing with young people. This was most often explained in terms of the attitudes and actions of the young people, the structural conditions of police work, and the personal qualities of the particular police officers involved. However, only 28% of the officers reported that they had had a formal complaint made against them by a young person. Complaints were most often explained as efforts by the young person concerned to discredit the police or to justify their own behaviour. A few officers also felt that such allegations stemmed from adult pressures on young people to make complaints, or that agencies such as the Aboriginal Legal Service encouraged young people to do so.

Virtually all officers believed that young people had the right to make a phone call and to have a third person present during processing and questioning. However, there was some uncertainty regarding the stage at which young people have the right to legal advice. Only a small proportion of officers felt that most of the young people with whom they came in contact knew their rights, and the majority said that they provided young people who had been arrested with information regarding their legal rights.

Officers identified a wide range of issues which they believed were the main problems in police/youth relations. The issues most frequently raised were the lack of respect by young people for the law, police and the courts, and problems of communication between young people and the police.

The results of the youth legal advocates, legal aid centres and Legal Aid Commission surveys (Chapter 5) were remarkably consistent across groups and across states. Reports by young people of harassment in public places such as malls, streets and shopping centres were not uncommon. Nearly all lawyers reported that they knew some young people who had been physically or verbally abused in such public spaces. In relation to police investigation of offences, the lawyers reported that many young people experienced problems prior to formal questioning. These problems included verbal and physical intimidation. They also reported that many young people were denied access to a telephone call or access to legal advice while at the police station.

Lawyers and legal centres indicated their belief that young people were ignorant of their legal rights, and that even where they were aware of their legal rights, they were not in a position to assert them. This was because the power imbalance between police and young people was too great. The abuse of this power imbalance was identified as a major issue in police/youth relations, as was police attitudes to young people (and vice versa). Concern was also expressed about police breaches of their own standing orders in relation to the processing of juveniles. Respondents from the legal centres indicated that there was a need for education of young people about legal rights. They also clearly indicated that there was a need for increased education of police to deal more sensitively and effectively with young people.

Respondents expressed a preference for increased informal processing of young people in the juvenile justice system. They also indicated that very few children used formal complaints mechanisms to complain about their treatment, and expressed substantial concern as to the independence or perceived independence of complaints bodies, which were considered especially inaccessible to young people.

While only half the respondents had participated in joint programs with police aimed at enhancing police youth relations, respondents were supportive of such programs.

Legal aid is readily available only to young people at the point of appearance at court. Most legal assistance is provided in the form of duty lawyers at Children's Courts. There are still very few specialist children's legal services in Australia. Access to assistance during police questioning is almost nonexistent (save, of course, that available on a full-fee basis). There is limited targeting of young people by Legal Aid Commissions. Community legal education is still provided in an ad hoc manner.

Police, young people and lawyers agree that contacts between police and young people are fraught with difficulties. In part these may be accounted for by the inadequacy of the police education and training that relates specifically to their interactions with young people. However, evident across the findings of this research is the inadequacy of existing legislation regarding police procedures prior to and during interrogation, and the rights of the suspect during the investigative process. The lack of clear statutory statements of these rights hinders any attempt on the young people's part to assert their rights, and makes it difficult for police to know the limits of their activities. In regard to this general situation, it is also apparent that there are major problems with youth access to legal advice and to complaints mechanisms.

Download Report

• Perceptions of the Treatment of Juveniles in the Legal System – PDF (814kb)