Indigenous young people and the NSW Children's Court: Magistrates Perceptions of the Court's Criminal Jurisdiction.

Abstract

This paper explores the perceptions of New South Wales (NSW) Children’s Court magistrates concerning the issues and challenges facing Indigenous young people coming before the Court in its criminal jurisdiction. Drawing from the NSW component of a national study into Australia’s Children’s Courts, 12 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were thematically analysed. The main challenges for Indigenous young people in the Court are considered and magistrates’ attitudes to potential court reform explored, with a specific focus on Indigenous youth sentencing courts. The NSW findings are contextualised within the broader findings on Indigenous young people from the national study of the Children’s Courts