an ncylc e-bulletin

Issue #2: May 2004

TAGGING

In February, the Western Australian government made public its plans to introduce the use of electronic monitoring bracelets on children subject to home detention orders. This followed a successful pilot of a similar scheme on adults. The Centre considers that the introduction the electronic bracelet system has different ramifications for children than adults, and opposes it on many levels.

First and foremost, the Centre questions the necessity and expense of further discipline measures in a State where statistics display a successful reduction in juvenile crime from around 18% in 1995 to just 10% in 2001.

Secondly, tagging children like animals is degrading, which makes such a practice contrary to the Western Australian government’s obligations under the Convention for the Rights of the Child. Article 40 of the Convention states that children who have infringed the law are to be treated in such a way as promotes the child’s sense of dignity and worth.

Most importantly, the implementation of the tag system fails to recognise or address the causes of young people’s breaches of home detention orders. Children have less control of their home environment than adult offenders. If a child is disobeying home detention orders because their home life is unbearable or dangerous, these tags are not the solution to such breaches. The families, and the children themselves, need more direct support, not more surveillance. The primary need is to make the home a place where a child can choose to stay without risk, before seeking out new innovations to regulate whether they are making that choice.

The Centre firmly believes that the government of Western Australia would be better to spend its time and resources on addressing the underlying problems that caused the juveniles to offend in the first place, instead of developing and implementing methods of convenience for the community with no regard for the best interests of the child.

Penny Taylor