The Sydney Morning Herald Aboriginal boy jailed 'for stealing $50 sandshoes' Date: 11/09/2000 Linda Doherty An 11-year-old Aborigine spent a night in custody for allegedly stealing a $50 pair of sandshoes and a $5 can of Spiderman web spray, while another Aboriginal boy was handcuffed by police to be moved from one courtroom to another. The cases, which occurred in June and August in Dubbo, are in addition to a case revealed in the Herald in which a 12-year-old Aborigine spent two nights in custody and had a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed on him after being charged with shoplifting a $50 pair of sandshoes. The president of the NSW Law Society, Mr John North, who has a Dubbo legal practice, said he would raise the "patchy" use by police of the Young Offenders Act and the disproportionate number of indigenous children in custody with the Police Commissioner, Mr Peter Ryan, at a series of meetings after the Olympics. "What concerns the Law Society is why are children of 11 or 12 being charged when there are all these other alternatives?" Mr North said. "Once the decision has been made to charge, police are then putting them on strict bail conditions like curfews that for young children is almost tantamount to ensuring they will breach bail.'' The treatment of the 12-year-old sandshoe thief, who was facing court for the first time, was last month criticised by the Senior Children's Magistrate, Mr Roger Dive, who said arrest should be a last resort for police, who have alternatives to imprisonment under the Young Offenders Act. These include cautions, warnings or sending juveniles to conferences where they meet their victims. The boy, who had pleaded not guilty, did not appear for his court hearing in Dubbo Children's Court on August 31. The magistrate found the charge proven and issued a warrant for his arrest. He is now being sought by police. A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General, Mr Debus, said a report from police indicated there were a "number of issues" that may have made the use of a caution inappropriate. However, a recent review of the implementation of the early stages of the Young Offenders Act, which began in April 1998 and is designed to keep young people out of court and detention centres, had "raised a number of concerns in relation to diversion rates for young indigenous people". The Government is considering a number of recommendations. On Friday, 34 per cent of the 320 children in NSW juvenile detention centres were Aborigines, who make up less than 2 per cent of the population. Across Australia, Aborigines account for 37 per cent of all juvenile detainees and 52 per cent of the girls in detention. The 12-year-old sandshoe thief spent the night of June 14 in Orana Juvenile Detention Centre in Dubbo after he was charged. On August 8 he was apprehended and charged with breaching his bail curfew and spent the night in the centre. The 11-year-old who allegedly stole another pair of sandshoes and the can of Spiderman web spray was put in Orana Juvenile Detention Centre on June 14. His charges were dismissed on August 31. A third Aboriginal boy, aged 11, also being held in custody, was handcuffed by police when he appeared in Dubbo Children's Court on August 9 and had to be transferred to another court building. He was paraded past a busy court waiting area despite objections from his parents and solicitor, who were in court. The boy was appearing on a number of outstanding matters, including car theft, that are still before the court. The Police Service Handbook says officers must have a good reason to handcuff "as someone handcuffed unnecessarily has a right of action for damages". The Herald was unable to obtain comment from the Police Service. A spokeswoman for the Minister for Police, Mr Whelan, confirmed that a complaint from the Western Aboriginal Legal Service had been received about the handcuffing. This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. -- ********************************** 'Click' to protect the rainforest: Make the Rainforest Site your homepage! http://www.therainforestsite.com/ ********************************** ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
