SOAD8014 Introduction to Australian Health and Human Services

Introduction

School dropouts and increasing involvement with criminal activities are two important concerns associated with youth in the community of Darwin. According to Ennis & Tonkins (2015) criminal behaviour among the adolescents can contain direct and impactful connection with the negative outcomes in future including commencing adult crime, decreased academic performance and school dropouts.

Objectives of the proposal

The aim of the paper is to establish an unambiguous as well as comprehensive proposal to analyse the rehabilitation program of Don Dale Detention Centre to reduce the youth crimes in Darwin. According to Tfhc.nt.gov.au. (2021) the organisation provides Top End School for learning with flexibilities. The purpose of the study to measure the educational program to rehabilitate the young crime performer and bring them back to the mainstream society.

Outline of the proposal

Stating the aim of the proposal, the study will provide a brief background of the organisation, their mission, vision and aims to serve the community. After that, the study will provide an empirical research about the nature of youth crime in Darwin. It will also mention the probable reason behind the increasing youth crime focusing on the sociological, political and economic perspective. Moving forward, the study will align the strategic aim of Don Dale Detention Centre to reduce the crime from the society with their educational program. It will briefly describe the positive outcome of all the educational as well as other program developed by the agency to support the young generation. It will also mention the problems that can be observed by the organisation in implementing different strategies to support the society.

Positive outcomes to be achieved

Males & Brown (2014) mentioned the project of Don Dale Detention Centre namely Youth Court Diversion aiming at monitoring the consequences as well as attendance of the teenager committed different minor crimes. The pre-court diversion program for the young people provide care for the teenagers covering the age group of 10 – 17 years old. The program includes both a verbal and written warning, conferences for youth justice including the family, the offender and the victim. The program also includes different referrals for the adolescents to reduce their offensive behaviour. There are different programs related drug or alcohol abuse programs and community service programs. Waelbers & Dorstewitz (2014) mentioned the community programs include providing support to the homeless people, providing shelters to the animals and carrying different non-profit services.

The agency also arranged for therapeutic measures for the offenders to provide a lesson to the doers. It is an effective alternative measure for the adolescents instead of punishing them. Punishment can introduce revengeful attitude within the adolescents. Shepherd (2015) mentioned the theory of classical conditioning, reinforcement is one of the key aspects to improve the behaviour whereas punishment leads to decreasing the behaviour. Hence, the therapeutic measures for the offenders can act as a positive reinforcement for the young criminals.

Along with this, the program includes assistance from other stakeholders including police and government officers. Inclusion of the local police helps to reduce the criminal activities within the locality. According to Espelage, Merrin & Hatchel (2018), the local police adopt the target-based resource analysis to solve any problem and also ensure fair treatment to all the participants of the criminal activities. The legal administrative bodies are responsible for maintaining safety, maintaining public order, preventing, investigating and detecting criminal activities and finally enforcing laws.

Finally, the diversion program also includes supporting the young people with the emotional well-being program to ensure they can get proper access to society and educational opportunities. This activity is completely focussing on the aspect of mental health of adolescents to find out the reason behind joining the criminal deeds by the youth. Understanding reason behind their criminal mentality helps the counsellors to provide remedies to their proper growth and development.

Probable problems might be anticipated

There are certain barriers to implement the services providing the juvenile criminal friendly services within the community. Javdani et al., (2014) mentioned there are different attitudinal barriers to including political behaviour, health facilities and related barriers, communication barriers, physical barriers, social barriers and financial barriers. Political barriers include lack of coordination from the government agencies and different priorities of political will. Secondly, the health systems barriers include overburdened health facilities and lack of skilled human resources. Skilled human resource refers to counsellors and guides to provide mental support to this adolescent.  

Community often withdrew itself in participating in assisting activities to these juveniles and their families. Henderson et al., (2017) mentioned both the children and the family of these children suffer a lot after the crime investigated by police. Community should support the families as a part of their duty. Instead, community encourages developing certain stereotypes to corner the families possessing the children performed the criminal activities. Along with this, the community also takes an active part to promote negative attitude to the service providers of these juveniles. The professionals supporting the juveniles lacks the understanding of professional ethics which is one of the key factors to support the young generation. Javdani et al., (2014) mentioned, the professional ethics refers to not to betray any colleagues during the service or any perception related to the management of any client.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said that, young people are much vulnerable to different kinds of suffering that raises the intention of criminal activities out of revenge. On the other hand, a child may experience different negative atmosphere during his childhood that has developed a disturbed attitude towards other human being. The selected organisation in this study is providing the services to the most vulnerable group of the society. Adolescents are the career of the generation to the future world. Hence, it is the responsibility of the community to take a joint venture to support the juveniles both physically and mentally. No matter what the reason behind their criminal activities, both the doers and their family members suffer from certain mental dilemma. It is the responsibility of the community to support these families with a humanistic approach to reduce the criminal activities from the society.

References

Ennis, G., & Tonkins, J. (2015). Youth arts and mental health: exploring connections in the Top End. The Research Centre for Health and Wellbeing, Charles Darwin University.

Espelage, D. L., Merrin, G. J., & Hatchel, T. (2018). Peer victimization and dating violence among LGBTQ youth: The impact of school violence and crime on mental health outcomes. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 16(2), 156-173.

Henderson, J. L., Hawke, L. D., Chaim, G., & Network, N. Y. S. P. (2017). Not in employment, education or training: Mental health, substance use, and disengagement in a multi-sectoral sample of service-seeking Canadian youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 75, 138-145.

Javdani, S., Abdul-Adil, J., Suarez, L., Nichols, S. R., & Farmer, A. D. (2014). Gender differences in the effects of community violence on mental health outcomes in a sample of low-income youth receiving psychiatric care. American journal of community psychology, 53(3-4), 235-248.

Males, M. A., & Brown, E. A. (2014). Teenagers’ high arrest rates: Features of young age or youth poverty?. Journal of Adolescent Research, 29(1), 3-24.

Shepherd, S. M. (2015). Finding color in conformity: A commentary on culturally specific risk factors for violence in Australia. International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, 59(12), 1297-1307.

Tfhc.nt.gov.au. (2021). Don Dale Youth Detention Centre: Darwin. Retrieved 14 June 2021, from https://tfhc.nt.gov.au/youth-justice/visiting-a-young-person/don-dale-youth-detention-centre-darwin

Waelbers, K., & Dorstewitz, P. (2014). Ethics in actor networks, or: What Latour could learn from Darwin and Dewey. Science and engineering ethics, 20(1), 23-40.

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