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Speaker 1: Now the Territory government say that they are breaking the

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Speaker 1: cycle of youth crime through early prevention and diversion programs.

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Speaker 1: Territory Families, Housing and Communities is developing an accelerated program

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Speaker 1: of family supports to keep children out of youth detention.

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Speaker 1: Now the government are set to raise the minimum age

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Speaker 1: of criminal responsibility from ten to twelve years old, with

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Speaker 1: legislation set to be debated during these parliamentary sittings. And

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Speaker 1: the government said when making the announcement that support programs

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Speaker 1: will indeed be instrumental in stopping the cycle of youth crime.

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Speaker 1: And from January to November this year, five hundred and

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Speaker 1: ninety one youth took part in youth diversion programs, with

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Speaker 1: evidence showing that sixty percent of youth will not go

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Speaker 1: on to reoffend. Now joining me on the line is

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Speaker 1: one of the organizers of these programs from Danella Dilba,

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Speaker 1: the CEO, Rob McFee. Good morning to you, Rob.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie HOI yeah really good.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us this morning. Rob. Can

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Speaker 1: you tell me a bit about the program delivered by

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Speaker 1: Danilla Dilba.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, We've been delivering a youth diversion program in

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Speaker 2: Darwen funded by the Northern Territory Government since April twenty twenty,

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Speaker 2: and the aims of our program are really to help

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Speaker 2: their work with young people who have been in contact

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Speaker 2: with the justice with committing a crime and work with

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Speaker 2: them to help them firstly understand that they can make

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Speaker 2: good decisions and good choices, understand that their actions have

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Speaker 2: consequences and that these actions can and do affect others,

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Speaker 2: to build their skills, to overcome the complex challenges that

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Speaker 2: they often face and have contributed to their offending behavior,

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Speaker 2: and really about getting them back on track to avoid

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Speaker 2: any future contact with the criminal justice system. So it's

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Speaker 2: all about getting in early before the cycle of offending escalate.

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Speaker 1: Rob tell us about some of the different ways that

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Speaker 1: you do that, some of the ways that you help

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Speaker 1: them to understand the consequences of their actions.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Sure. Once we've received the referral from police of

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Speaker 2: police them and their suitability to participate in the program,

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Speaker 2: we meet with the young person and a responsible ad

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Speaker 2: all their family unit and we design a diversion program

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Speaker 2: specifically around the needs of that young person. So we

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Speaker 2: do an assessment to help us understand the circumstances of

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Speaker 2: their offending behavior, assess some of the reasons they're offending,

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Speaker 2: what barriers there might be for them to succeeding in

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Speaker 2: the program, and ways to overcome them, and then we

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Speaker 2: set a series of conditions that they must comply with.

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Speaker 2: So they must make contact with their case manager every week,

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Speaker 2: they must fully participate in all the programs and services

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Speaker 2: that we offer. They must attend a youth justice conference.

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Speaker 2: And finally, they must provide a verbal and or a

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Speaker 2: written apology to the victims of their crime. So once

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Speaker 2: they've agreed to those conditions and we've designed the program,

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Speaker 2: then we work with them over usually a three month period,

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Speaker 2: meeting with them weekly and engaging them in a whole

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Speaker 2: range of different services and programs that are aimed to

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Speaker 2: address the reasons for their offending.

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Speaker 1: Rob How old are the young people that are taking

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Speaker 1: part in the program that Danilla Dilber delivers.

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Speaker 2: So most young people engaged in our youth diversion programs

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Speaker 2: anywhere between twelve through till sixteen seventeen eighteen, so it's

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Speaker 2: kind of quite young. With there is a need, I

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Speaker 2: think as we look at the raising the age of

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Speaker 2: criminal responsibility for us to focus on those ten and

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Speaker 2: eleven year old so those that we're hoping will be

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Speaker 2: diverted away from the detention center altogether, will need to

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Speaker 2: ensure that our programs are designed to meet the needs

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Speaker 2: of those younger younger kids.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, how do you reckon You're going to have to

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Speaker 1: modify things to sort of, you know, to suit the

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Speaker 1: needs of those very young kids.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, one of the things that we find with

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Speaker 2: a lot of the young people that are engaged in

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Speaker 2: our programs are undiagnosed issues around mental health, and so

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Speaker 2: making sure that we can properly assess and diagnose as

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Speaker 2: any cognitive or neuro disability issues in that younger population

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Speaker 2: will be really important because if we can pick those

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Speaker 2: up at a young age, because often that is some

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Speaker 2: of the reason why we've got young people offending, when

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Speaker 2: they've got kind of mental health issues that are undiagnosed

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Speaker 2: and untreated. So sure we've got good assessment and treatment

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Speaker 2: will be one of those areas.

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Speaker 1: Now, talk us through how many kids have completed the

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Speaker 1: program that you deliver.

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Speaker 2: Since I've got data from this financial year, so from

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Speaker 2: the first of July, we've had fifty young people in

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Speaker 2: total complete the program. So thirty eight of those were

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Speaker 2: successful in completing the requirements of the program, six moved

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Speaker 2: out of the Darwin region so we're no longer eligible,

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Speaker 2: and six did not succeed and we're referred back to

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Speaker 2: the courts. So that's a pretty good success rate. And

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Speaker 2: what we've seen is the Northern Territory Government's been keeping

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Speaker 2: track of the offending rates of those kids engaged in diversion.

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Speaker 2: Percent of them do not reoffend, and none of those

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Speaker 2: fifty that have been engaged since the first of July,

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Speaker 2: we've not heard of any reoffending of those fifty as well.

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Speaker 1: So, Rob, if this is working, I mean, why can't

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Speaker 1: we have more kids going through the program. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think it's really important that we look at

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Speaker 2: diverting kids as much as we can, because we know

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Speaker 2: once they get into detentionion, once they get into the

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Speaker 2: cycle of courts and being locked up, they've got a

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Speaker 2: higher chance of reoffending, not only as a young person,

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Speaker 2: but as an adult and having poor life outcomes overall.

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Speaker 2: So we're pushing very hard for as many young people. Look,

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Speaker 2: it's not going to suit everybody. There are going to

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Speaker 2: be some who have got really complex issues or have

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Speaker 2: committed really serious crimes that will need to be dealt with,

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Speaker 2: But for the majority of young people, we should be

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Speaker 2: looking to get them back on track and really ending

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Speaker 2: that cycle of offending.

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Speaker 1: Rob. Look, is it only Indigenous kids that are able

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Speaker 1: to take part? Because I know myself, I certainly know

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Speaker 1: of somebody who's who's really struggled to get her son

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Speaker 1: to be able to, you know, to do a program

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Speaker 1: like this or have any of those kind of assessments

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Speaker 1: that you spoke about earlier.

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Speaker 2: No, not at all. It's not unique for Indigenous children

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Speaker 2: and young people. We've got both that are referred to us.

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Speaker 2: So usually our numbers from first to July about two

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Speaker 2: thirds of those Indigenous kids and a third of those

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Speaker 2: are non Indigenous kids. So the program's open to everybody, Rob.

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Speaker 1: Do you think that you could do with more funding?

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Speaker 1: Do you think that there is more that Danilla Dilbert

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Speaker 1: could be doing right now in this space? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean we're funded to manage a case load

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Speaker 2: of about twenty five young people at any one time.

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Speaker 2: We could certainly, you know, if we had additional funding

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Speaker 2: to take on additional young people, we could, yeah, right now.

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Speaker 1: And so you did say though that in terms of

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Speaker 1: the program that you're delivering, that there are you know,

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Speaker 1: like it's not suitable for everybody, is at.

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Speaker 2: No, that's right. And the police of the ones that

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Speaker 2: make the assessment and referral to us, so they'll determine

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Speaker 2: the likelihood of the young person being able to succeed

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Speaker 2: through diversion and so they assess their suitability and then

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Speaker 2: once they come to us, we work with them intensively

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Speaker 2: with our case managers and try to really understand and

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Speaker 2: overcome the issues that they're dealing with, even those that

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Speaker 2: are referred to us. Sometimes issues are so complex and

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Speaker 2: some of the things that they're dealing within their lives

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Speaker 2: are outside the scope of what we can support through

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Speaker 2: our program. And so, you know, some kids don't succeed

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Speaker 2: and are referred back to the court. But I think that,

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Speaker 2: you know, given the chance, that we've got a better

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Speaker 2: opportunity of diverting kids from the youth justice system forever

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Speaker 2: if we're able to really engage them early.

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Speaker 1: Rob what do you like from the experience that you've gotten,

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Speaker 1: you know, from what you've seen with the kids that

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Speaker 1: have done this program, what do you think is the

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Speaker 1: most impactful aspect of this program that really has made

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Speaker 1: a difference.

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Speaker 2: Because I think it's about really helping the young person

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Speaker 2: understand the consequences of their behavior. Where possible, we try

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Speaker 2: to get the victims of their crime involved as well,

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Speaker 2: so that they can see the impact that's had on

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Speaker 2: those individual people. We also run them through a range

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Speaker 2: of programs. One of them is called the one Punch program,

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Speaker 2: which is helping them understand that people who are involved

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Speaker 2: in one punch incidents often don't get involved with the

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Speaker 2: intentions for seriously harm somebody, but it does and can,

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Speaker 2: and so we help them understand that their behavior, while

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Speaker 2: not intended to hurt people, could seriously hurt people. We

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Speaker 2: also have them involved in volunteering activities in community to

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Speaker 2: give back to community. And another program we do is

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Speaker 2: where we take the young person through the hospital to

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Speaker 2: show them the impacts of trauma on people in hospitals,

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Speaker 2: just help them see and understand what it could cause

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Speaker 2: their behavior could cause. So it's really about opening their

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Speaker 2: eyes up because often they just don't realize that their

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Speaker 2: behavior has the potential to cause that much harm.

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Speaker 1: Well, Rob, I really appreciate you coming on the show

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Speaker 1: this morning and telling us a bit more about the

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Speaker 1: program that is being delivered by Danilla Dilba. Please keep

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Speaker 1: in contact, let us know how things go and if

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Speaker 1: you do find that it gets expanded or you end

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Speaker 1: up with the funding to expand it. But I appreciate

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Speaker 1: you having a chat with me this morning, No.

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Speaker 2: Worries, Katie, and I just want to put a call

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Speaker 2: out to all of the young people and families who

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Speaker 2: have engaged in the program and have given really good

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Speaker 2: feedback about the impact that's had on their lives. So

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Speaker 2: we've got a lot of people who are very supportive

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Speaker 2: of what we've delivered for them as well.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much this morning, Rob, I really appreciate you

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Speaker 1: speaking with us.

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Speaker 2: No worries, Thanks Katie, Thank you,