ABSTRACT
Prisons for children are, by design, closed institutions. The very places in which children are enclosed are also places that limit public entry or public scrutiny. Against this context, this chapter is concerned with the eruption of ‘crises’ in child prisons, and the question as to whether such crises allow for meaningful review and reform efforts to redress violence against children in places of detention, or whether the review and reform processes themselves bear risks that children will be exposed to further violence and structural injustice. Focusing primarily on recent youth justice crises in the Australian jurisdictions of Victoria and the Northern Territory, the chapter comprises documentary analysis of reports from various youth justice inquiries, independent monitors, the media, and politicians, and identifies that in a highly charged environment such as a youth justice ‘crisis’, political interests and the role of the media significantly compromise the prospects for introducing principled or evidence-based criminal justice reform. Ultimately, the chapter contends that halting the cyclical, and often punitive, nature of crisis and crisis-response requires reconceptualising a child justice system in line with children’s rights, and the practical rules and guidelines elaborated in the United Nations standards and norms on criminal justice.
