It is not because of a lack of expert recommendations that the Northern Territory justice system suffers from revolving-door justice that worsens the problem of (youth) crime. There are no fewer than five reports on the table of the Government: the final report of the Royal
Commission; the Aboriginal Justice Agreement; the Northern Territory Law Reform Committee Reports on Mandatory Sentencing and Community-Based Sentencing Options; and The Recognition of Local Aboriginal laws in Sentencing and Bail. Together they contain more than
300 expert recommendations. They involve consideration of restorative or therapeutic sentencing dispositions or hearings before a community court. Although these recommendations do not go far enough to put an end to youth crime in Alice Springs, if all recommendations were turned into legislation, we might see a change for the benefit and safety of the community and tackle some of the hurdles that we must overcome to solve the crime situation in Alice Springs. The latest “document of hope” is the Northern Territory Youth Detention Centres Model of Care, which already ignores the recommendation not to build
juvenile detention centres next to adult prisons. The hype-like promotion of the project does indeed seem to offer hope, but will the government deliver and switch from being one of the most backward jurisdictions in the world when it comes to vulnerable people and crime to being one of the most enlightened? It seems too good to be true.
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