NAAJA condemns the NT Government’s proposed youth bail reforms announced yesterday. These reforms roll back critical Royal Commission recommendations and will have far reaching and devastating consequences. 

‘This is bad law and bad policy. We know knee-jerk responses to crime don’t work. We need to stay the course of the Royal Commission’s recommendations and invest in evidence based responses that address the underlying causes of offending’ said David Woodroffe, NAAJA’s Principal Legal Officer. 

‘We want our communities to be safe. Locking up kids only makes this worse and we can’t keep building more prisons. We need to back responses that work – continuing investment in community driven solutions that support Aboriginal children and families’ said Priscilla Atkins, Chief Executive Officer. 

These reforms are only going to create division in the community at a time when we must come together to achieve real and long-lasting solutions.