Daniel Daylight will never forget the day a young Indigenous boy asked for bail in the children’s court so he could attend his year 6 farewell.
The 33-year-old Gamilaroi man was working as the Aboriginal client and community support officer at Parramatta children’s court in Sydney’s west. His main role was to refer kids to support services but he did whatever he felt was needed: talked to parents and lawyers, and bought kids lunch when they turned up hungry with no money.
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Daylight soon noticed a pattern. The same kids kept returning to the court, from the age of 10 to 18.
Study after study has shown that contact with the criminal justice system at a young age can do lasting damage to children, their families and communities.
The younger a child is the first time they’re sentenced, the more likely they are to reoffend violently, to continue offending and to end up in an adult prison before their 22nd birthday. According to a 2016 report by the Sentencing Advisory Council, 94% of children in detention aged 10 to 12 returned to prison before they were 18.
A cell at Banksia Hill detention centre in Perth. A study of 99 children there found nine out of 10 kids had some cognitive impairment – and 74% were Aboriginal