Victorian Liberals demand answers as Allan government confirms electronic monitoring trial will see youth criminals placed in schools
The Victorian opposition is demanding answers after the Allan government confirmed its electronic monitoring trial would allow youth offenders to be placed in government schools.
From Tuesday, Victorian courts will be able to impose new bail supervision requirements on up to 50 youth offenders charged with serious offences as a part of a two-year trial.
Youth offenders aged between 14 and 18 will be eligible for the trial, with both the Children's Court and the Supreme Court able to mandate they wear tamper-proof ankle bracelets that will enable the Department of Justice and Community Safety to track their movements in real time.
'They will be subject to electronic monitoring, but it will also be combined with intensive supervision and support for those young offenders to make sure that they are best equipped to comply with their bail plan and their bail conditions,' Attorney General Sonya Kilkenny told reporters.
Victoria's Youth Justice Commissioner, Andrea Davidson, said case managers would work proactively with families, the Department of Education, Victoria Police and support services.
They will also work with the offenders to ensure support services are tailored to their individual needs – such as health-related services, counselling, employment, and connection to groups which provide mentoring and support through lived experience.
'We're committed to providing the best possible outcomes for young people in Victoria using an evidence-based understanding of what works to address offending behaviour and divert young people away from the community justice system,' Ms Davidson said.
But Ms Kilkenny also confirmed the youth offenders could be placed in one of 57 'alternative education settings' in metropolitan Melbourne – which include government schools.
This is despite Deputy Premier and Education Minister Ben Carroll last month rejecting a proposal to see youth offenders placed in mainstream schools, describing it as 'wrong on so many levels'.
'It's not appropriate for kids wearing ankle bracelets to be in mainstream school settings,' Mr Carroll said.
Under the trial now in effect, the Department of Education will make the final call on the most appropriate education setting for the youth offenders, while the Department of Justice and Community Safety will work with school leadership to 'maintain the safety of other students and staff'.
'I think it is really important to recognise too that for young people, one of the important protective factors is certainly education and linking young offenders back into an educational setting,' Attorney General Kilkenny said.
The confirmation that offenders could be attending state schools prompted questions from the Victorian opposition, with Deputy Liberal leader Sam Groth stating that parents want their kids' teachers focused on teaching.
'They want to make sure their kids are getting the best education delivered by a teacher who is focused on teaching their kids, not focused on having to worry about the children's safety when it comes to these youth offenders,' he said.
But when asked how the Coalition would manage the reintegration of young offenders into society, Mr Groth appeared to soften his stance.
'Look, first and foremost, is about community safety… but we also want to make sure that those youth offenders are able to reintegrate,' he said.
Mr Groth suggested youth offenders could be educated through programs in youth detention centres or online, and that if the government wanted to put youth offenders in schools they needed to show 'some evidence' supporting the plan.
'If the best decision is to put these youth offenders wearing ankle bracelets into a government school, then show us that evidence – because this trial has happened in other places around the world,' he said.
'There is no silver bullet when it comes to this issue. But we've got to make sure we're putting all of those people in the community who are law-abiding citizens at the front and foremost of all the decisions that we make.'
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