Children’s Rights Assessment of Juvenile Detention in Australia

Anita Mackay has been researching the compliance of Australian closed environments with Australia’s international human rights law obligations since 2011. She has been an academic at La Trobe Law School (La Trobe University, Melbourne) since 2016 and is currently a Senior Lecturer. Dr Mackay’s 2020 book titled Towards Human Rights Compliance in Australian Prisons won the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC) biennial Christine M. Alder award in 2021. Prior to 2011, Dr Mackay worked as a senior legal officer in a variety of government policy areas, including family law and access to justice.

• IntroductionPART I: Socio-Legal context for youth detention in Australia1. Detention of children in Australia: hyperincarceration and over-representation 2. Australia’s international human rights law obligations3. Legal and policy framework for youth detention in Australia4. Monitoring and oversight of youth detention in AustraliaPART II: Children’s rights violations in youth detention in Australia5. Low minimum age of criminal responsibility6. Failure to separate children from adults7. Degrading treatment / failure to treat children humanely8. Insufficient health services, standard of living, and connections with family, community, and culturePART III: Strategies for reform9. Towards children’s-rights compliance