Figure 11 - uploaded by Susan Baidawi
Content may be subject to copyright.
Source publication
The over-representation of children from child protection backgrounds in the youth justice system is a significant and longstanding concern. While the association between child maltreatment and youth offending is established, the pathway of child protection-involved youth to criminal justice outcomes has received little attention. This paper presen...
Similar publications
The over-representation of children from child protection backgrounds in the youth justice system is a significant and longstanding concern. While the association between child maltreatment and youth offending is established, the pathway of child protection-involved youth to criminal justice outcomes has received little attention. This paper presen...
Citations
... more cognisance of the movement of children and young people from the welfare system into the youth justice system, and just how often it is that the same families and young people who are simultaneously targeted for intervention by both child protection and youth justice services (Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019;Malvaso et al., 2020). What is less clear is the extent to which current legislation takes account of these understandings of psychosocial maturity and how it provides legal decision-makers with sentencing options that are developmentally appropriate, beyond the use of the legal presumption of doli incapax -the argument that some children between the ages of 10 and 13 years lack sufficient maturity to be held criminally responsible (Moulds & Krishna, 2020) -and calls to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years across all Australian jurisdictions (e.g., Crofts, 2022). ...
... Rather, it is possible to conclude that there is a need for legislative reform that clearly identifies justice-involved young people as children who cannot be expected to assume full responsibility for their behaviour. This is in light of evidence that most justice-involved young people have experienced significant and cumulative maltreatment, adversity and disadvantage (Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019;Sentencing Advisory Council, 2020). While there is a need to prevent early contact with the youth justice system and to provide more responsive and trauma-informed services McLachlan, 2023), the most logical service response is not to punish, but to deliver interventions to strengthen social and emotional wellbeing and promote healing (National Mental Health Commission, 2023). ...
... For example, they found that 51% of children who had contact with both the CP and YJ systems were born into jobless families, compared to 8% of children who did not have contact with either system. This evidence is consistent with research from other Australian jurisdictions using smaller population samples, showing that children who have CP contact (particularly those who have experienced out-of-home care), who come from socially and economically disadvantaged families and who have mental health challenges are over-represented in the YJ system (Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019;Hurren, Stewart, & Dennison, 2017). These findings pose the important question as to whether punitive responses to children committing crimes serve to simply criminalise childhood trauma, disadvantage and mental health challenges. ...
... A study conducted in the Midwest showed that the relationship between maltreatment type and juvenile court delinquency petitions showed that educational neglect was significantly associated with delinquent petitions for boys, whereas, among girls, all maltreatment types were equally likely to result in delinquency petitions (Bright & Jonson-Reid, 2008). An Australian study of dual system youth found a greater prevalence of emotional and sexual abuse among females compared to males, but it did not find gender differences in the prevalence of other maltreatment types (Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019). These divergent findings elevate the need to explore the relationship between maltreatment type and juvenile justice system involvement. ...
This study examined how single and multiple types of maltreatment allegations differed for young people with child protective services (CPS) only and dual system (i.e., CPS and juvenile delinquency court petition) involvement by gender and race and ethnicity. Allegation types were documented for young people with CPS only or dual system involvement using linked CPS and Probation records for Los Angeles County for a cohort of children born between 1998 and 2001 with a history of at least one CPS maltreatment investigation between birth and age 18. The CPS only and dual system groups were compared using chi-square tests, and a generalized linear model was constructed to assess the relationship between key variables and dual system involvement. Two thirds of young people with dual system involvement (68.2%) experienced two or more allegation types, compared with less than half of young people with CPS involvement only (46.0%). More than three quarters of girls (77.1%) and Black young people (75.3%) with dual system involvement experienced multiple types of maltreatment. 11% of young people with only CPS involvement experienced sexual abuse with another maltreatment type, compared to 22.7% of young people with dual system involvement and 38.6% of girls with dual system involvement.The findings highlight the complex CPS histories of young people with dual system involvement, especially among girls and Black young people. These findings should facilitate discussion of gender-responsive services for young people with traumatic sexual experiences, given the frequency of sexual abuse allegations among girls with dual system involvement.
... Family Division that hears applications relating to the care and protection of children aged 0-17 years at risk of abuse and neglect, as well as intervention order applications, alongside a Criminal Division that deals with alleged offending of children aged 10-17 years (though children up to 21 years may be subject to youth justice orders in custody or the community). The current study builds on an initial study of dual system youth (Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019b), which was extended to conduct a comparative study with a matched sample of justice-only children. ...
... The sample of dual system youth comprised all children (aged 10-17 years at criminal charges) before each of three [STATE BLINDED FOR REVIEW] Children's Criminal Courts who had current or historical protective matters in the study jurisdiction. Data were collected regarding the dual system youth sample as part of a previous study which sought to examine the proportion of dual system youth before the court, and the characteristics of this population (Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019a, 2019b. Cases were identified in chronological order of children appearing before the youth criminal courts for any reason (e.g. ...
... This unique offense profile reflects both the 'cycles of violence' linking violent victimization and perpetration described by Widom (1989) several decades ago, as well as the greater surveillance and criminalization of dual system youth by child protection and criminal justice authorities (McFarlane, 2018). In particular, the greater prevalence of charges related to criminal damage and justice procedure offenses are consistent with the observed criminalization of behaviors related to trauma, psychological distress, and neurodisability, as well as the greater surveillance of dually-involved youth placed in residential care contexts (Baidawi & Piquero, 2021;Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019b). The findings affirm previous research which identifies the greater propensity of dual system youth to be charged with resisting, hindering or assaulting police (Sentencing Advisory Council, 2020), and extend these to their greater likelihood of being charged with a range of offenses related to their interaction with the criminal justice system and its agents (e.g. ...
The over-representation of children from child protection backgrounds in youth justice systems presents a long-standing concern. This study adds to a growing body of research that identifies how such dual system youth differ from other criminal court-involved youth. It also investigates heterogeneity among dual system youth based on the concurrent (dually-involved) or non-concurrent (dual contact) nature of their systems involvement. Socio-demographic characteristics, offending profiles and support needs of 300 dual system youth with statutory child protection involvement and who appeared in three Australian youth criminal courts were compared with those of a matched sample of 268 justice-only youth. Results indicated dual system youth were on average younger, more likely to be female, had more prior adjudications, current charges, and more violent offending. Importantly, the findings demonstrate that dually-involved children experience greater polyvictimisation, out-of-home care placement, and more serious offending, relative to both justice-only and dual contact youth. Among those sentenced to youth justice supervision, dually-involved children were less likely to have a relative caregiver and had more complex support needs related to neurodisability, mental illness, and substance misuse. Findings support the utility and importance of proposed frameworks for defining the heterogeneous pathways of dual system youth, and the need for targeted and collaborative strategies across court and youth justice systems to address such children’s unique needs.
... It has been viewed as a significant threat to public health and social welfare [2,3]. Child maltreatment has been found to be prevalent among the adolescent population, specifically in the juvenile offender population [4,5]. A host of Western empirical studies have found a high prevalence of child maltreatment victimization among juvenile offenders [6][7][8]. ...
... This finding highlights the importance of studying juvenile chronic offending, a type of persistent offending that has been largely overlooked in previous delinquency research in China. The finding that both the overall maltreatment victimization and the specific maltreatment victimization were prevalent among the juvenile offender sample is generally consistent with the results of Western studies that demonstrated a high incidence of child maltreatment victimization among juveniles involved in the justice system [4,5]. However, the prevalence rate of emotional neglect (85%) in the current sample is substantially higher than that of its Western counterparts (ranging from 34.8% to 39%) [6,8,54]. ...
(1) Background: Maltreated children are at increased risk for juvenile delinquency. Extant research has explored the effect of child maltreatment on either the initial risk of juvenile delinquency or general juvenile recidivism. However, little is known regarding the effect of child maltreatment on chronic offending. (2) Methods: Using a sample of 695 male juvenile offenders incarcerated in a centralized juvenile reformatory of the province X located in Southwest China, this study investigates both the prevalence of child maltreatment and the effect of child maltreatment on chronic offending among the juvenile offenders. Descriptive statistical analyses and multinomial logistic regression were utilized to conduct the analyses. (3) Results: A vast majority of the juvenile offenders experienced at least one type of child maltreatment. Moreover, maltreatment was generally found to be more prevalent in chronic offenders than in one-time offenders and recidivists. Results from a series of logistic regression analyses revealed that among five specific maltreatment types, only physical abuse exerted a statistically significant and positive impact on chronic offending. (4) Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of providing early prevention and intervention programs to juvenile offenders who were physically abused in order to reduce general chronic offending as well as chronic violent offending.
... Challenging behaviours in residential OOHC care, homelessness after leaving care and associated mental health issues and drug and alcohol use frequently lead to early involvement in the criminal justice system (Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019;Commission for Children and Young People, 2020;Elizabeth & Richard, 2010;McFarlane, 2010;McGrath et al., 2020;Wise & Egger, 2008). While there is much evidence for connections between care and crime, there are difficulties in identifying causes as well as protective factors due to the range of care and juvenile justice jurisdictions. ...
... Approaches include timely interventions, and appropriate responses to children and young people with challenging behaviours before these escalate and lead workers to call for police intervention. Interventions should also focus on care givers, by providing adequate support and training in the effects of complex trauma and managing challenging behaviour (Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019;CREATE Foundation, 2018). Attention should be given to early intervention with collaboration of all agencies (Armytage & Ogloff, 2017;Herz et al., 2012;Victoria Legal Aid, 2016). ...
Young people in residential out-of-home care are universally over-represented in the criminal justice system. This study presents an evaluation of Community around the Child, an early-intervention initiative designed to reduce contact with the criminal justice system among young people living in residential care in Victoria, Australia. Interviews and focus groups with professionals ( n = 44) produced data that were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The study found the program promoted positive relationships between young people in care and police and between police and residential carers. Increased knowledge on the part of both carers and police about the impact of trauma on young people’s behaviour and methods for supporting young people to regulate their behaviour contributed to these positive relationships. The study calls for a holistic, therapeutic response to the individual needs of young people who have experienced and continue to experience trauma. Essential to this is the provision of training in trauma informed care for police and other stakeholders.
... For instance, 61% of Aboriginal children under youth justice supervision in 2018-19 across Australia also received child protection services in the previous 5 years, compared with under half (48%) of non-Aboriginal children (AIHW, 2020). Multiple studies in the study jurisdiction have also found that Aboriginal children are vastly over-represented among court-involved youth, comprising 18% of crossover children before the youth criminal courts, compared with less than 5% of the general population aged 10-17 years (Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019b;Sentencing Advisory Council, 2019). Data further show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander crossover children are most greatly over-represented at the most restrictive end of both of these systems. ...
Children placed in residential care are significantly over‐represented in youth justice systems. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with service providers, this exploratory study examines practice factors that impact on the criminalization of this group of children across multiple services and systems, including in the residential care environment, police, lawyers, courts and youth justice systems, as well as multi‐systems practice with this group in one Australian state. Positive outcomes were observed for children in residential care where well‐functioning care teams existed, as well as for children in therapeutic residential care settings. However, clear limitations were identified across all phases of children's youth justice system involvement, including placement with offending peers, the criminalization of behaviours of concern, greater use of remand and detention, limited support to navigate legal and youth justice processes, challenges to service collaboration, and limited applicability of sentencing considerations. The findings indicate a pervasive level of systemic disadvantage for this group of children, and imply that a holistic strategy underpinned by affirmative action across several systems will be necessary to address the ongoing criminalization of children in residential care.
... (VACCA, 2017) 31 There is a well-established link for Aboriginal people between incarceration and contact with child protection and OOHC systems. For example, this was first highlighted within the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (Johnston, 1991), with later research referring both to youth justice involvement as a factor for child protection systems contact and vice versa (AIHW, 2020c; Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019;McFarlane, 2018;Sentencing Advisory Council, 2020). 32 Merinda entered OOHC when she was 3 years old, initially being placed with a non-Indigenous carer. ...
On the continent now known as Australia, European colonisation has greatly affected First Nations families’ lives. As in other colonised contexts, there has been enormous cultural loss experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples over time, in part because of child removal practices. In Australia, these practices resulted in the ‘Stolen Generations’, whereby 10–30% of all First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families, communities, Countries—and, by extension, cultures (Wilson, 1997). Today, recognition of this cultural loss and the importance of Indigenous children’s rights to culture is reflected in international law (United Nations, 1989, 2007) and in contemporary out-of-home-care (OOHC) policy and practice. While cultural rights are recognised and protected, it remains that cultural connection is poorly understood and inconsistently supported in Australian OOHC systems. This thesis makes a critical contribution to better understanding how cultural connection is understood, and experienced in OOHC contexts by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members, including Aboriginal young people who have lived in OOHC, in Victoria, Australia.
Using a mixed-methods approach, underpinned by Indigenous Standpoint Theory, the findings highlight the complex nature of cultural connection as a process of culturally connecting, which intertwines identity and culture. It demonstrates the importance of reconceptualising cultural connection as a journey of culturally connecting, experienced over time. The findings highlight how journeys of culturally connecting are best supported by Indigenous peoples, in accordance with Indigenous relationality, to impart knowledges of mob and ancestry that are pertinent to belonging, identity and the practice of mob-specific culture.
This thesis shows that it is possible to better support cultural connection in OOHC where cultural disconnection has already occurred. However, there are no easy set of solutions to realise cultural connection for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people within a system that produces cultural disconnection by design. The best way to support cultural connection is to prevent First Nations children and young people from entering OOHC in the first place. Our self-determination, as First Nations peoples, is paramount to this venture.
... One study found a greater prevalence of emotional and sexual abuse among female crossover children, relative to male crossover children, but no gender differences in the prevalence of other maltreatment types (e.g. physical abuse, neglect and exposure to family violence) (Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019, 2020a. ...
... lifetime contact, number of notifications, placement in OOHC and placement in residential care) (Fitzgerald et al., 2012;Malvaso, Delfabbro, Day, et al., 2018;Ringland et al., 2015;Rodway et al., 2011;Shrifter, 2012;Taylor-Kindrick, 2011). Similarly, several studies (n = 11) demonstrated that dually involved or dually adjudicated individuals in the juvenile justice system are more likely to be female Baidawi & Sheehan, 2020a;Dierkhising et al., 2019;Huang et al., 2012). Studies conducting other relevant analyses did not find gender differences in age of initial child protection involvement among crossover children (Sentencing Advisory Council [SAC], 2020). ...
... However, some studies found gender differences in the grounds for child protection involvement among crossover children (Shrifter, 2012) and in maltreatment recurrence following arrest (Huang et al., 2012). Greater maltreatment exposure and child welfare system involvement among racial/ethnic minority females and males who offend, relative to their race/ethnic majority counterparts, is also noted across several studies (AIHW, 2016, Sentencing Advisory Council, 2020Baidawi & Sheehan, 2020a;King et al., 2011). For instance, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2012) identified that 31% of Indigenous females under youth justice supervision in Australia had one or more child protection notifications, compared with 19% of Indigenous males, 17% of non-Indigenous females and 8% of non-Indigenous males, demonstrating the importance of intersectional perspectives in understanding these relationships. ...
Maltreated and child welfare-involved youth are over-represented in juvenile justice systems. These youth are at a greater risk of serious offending and justice system entrenchment relative to their non-maltreated peers. Understanding gender differences in the pathways to justice involvement and the nature of offending among maltreated children is critical for informing policy and practice. Yet, this body of evidence is fragmented. This scoping review identified and narratively synthesized evidence from studies reporting on gender differences in the individual characteristics, maltreatment experiences, child protection involvement and offending profiles of maltreated youth who offend. A comprehensive search of four databases generated 11,568 publications, from which 180 met the review’s inclusion criteria. These primary studies included participants aged 8–21 years with a history of childhood maltreatment and youth offending and reported at least one gendered analysis. Some consistent findings were reported across studies. A greater level of child welfare involvement and maltreatment exposure (particularly sexual abuse and multi-type maltreatment) was found for justice involved girls, relative to boys. Maltreated and child welfare-involved boys appear more likely to offend than girls, but findings about how gender moderates the maltreatment-offending relationship were inconsistent. Child welfare systems involvement (particularly foster care and residential care) appeared to be an important moderator for girls, and school performance mediated outcomes for boys. Across this body of evidence, few studies accounted for under-reporting of abuse and neglect when using youth self-report measures of maltreatment. Future research is needed which explicitly explores how gender moderates the maltreatment-offending relationship.
... multi-type maltreatment, maltreatment recurrence, and persistence), alongside socioeconomic disadvantage, and found that Aboriginal maltreated children still had 2.4 times greater odds of receiving youth convictions than non-Aboriginal maltreated children. Similarly, findings of a Queensland birth cohort study determined that while children of Aboriginal mothers were three times more likely to have youth justice involvement, experiences of social disadvantage and substantiated maltreatment did not significantly impact this likelihood (Doolan, Najman, Mills, Cherney, & Strathearn, 2013 (Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019b;. ...
... Key stakeholder perceptions reflected findings of quantitative research that outlines the substantial level of social disadvantage faced by Aboriginal crossover children, alongside greater levels of maltreatment and household adversity (Baidawi & Sheehan, 2019b;Dawes, 2011;Hurren et al., 2017;Malvaso, Delfabbro, et al., 2017b). Barriers to cultural connection, cultural identity development, and the impact of intergenerational trauma outlined in other research were also identified by many participants as impacting the wellbeing and trajectories of Aboriginal crossover children (Commission for Children and Young People, 2016;Commonwealth Government, 2017; Family Is Culture, 2019; Mendes et al., 2016). ...
Background
The disproportionately high number of Aboriginal crossover children traversing child protection and youth justice systems is a longstanding concern across countries with historic legacies of settler-colonialism.
Aims
This study explored what key stakeholders who directly work with Aboriginal crossover children perceive are the unique characteristics and service needs of this group, and explored their views of current service system responses for Aboriginal crossover children.
Methods
Twenty-five semi-structured consultations were conducted with judicial officers (magistrates and judges), police prosecutors and officers, lawyers, child protection youth justice and education professionals, child and family mental health clinicians, and representatives from non-government agencies working with crossover children in South Eastern Australia. Three out of the sample of 82 participants identified as Aboriginal.
Findings
Thematic analysis revealed that key stakeholders noted substantial social disadvantage, maltreatment, and household adversity among Aboriginal crossover children, alongside systemic barriers to cultural connection and cultural identity development, and the impact of intergenerational trauma for this group. Deficient child protection responses were often strongly emphasised, however findings demonstrated considerable disagreement among key stakeholders regarding the nature of Aboriginal crossover children’s service needs, and what might constitute effective responses to these. This study highlights the need for a common understanding and frameworks among service providers working collaboratively to support Aboriginal crossover children.
