Recasting the law on a more merciful basis : Juvenile justice then and now / Robyn Blewer

Brisbane: Supreme Court Library Queensland 2025

202292

Juvenile justice, Administration of -- Australia.

Juvenile justice, Administration of -- Queensland.

Juvenile detention -- Queensland.

Juvenile detention -- Australia.

In 1897, a Perth newspaper reported on the distressed state of two young boys who’d been remanded in custody in the local watchhouse for stealing a pigeon: ‘the punishment, even if guilty ... must have been greater than many a women beater or hardened thief suffers. If the system is to blame, it is high time that it was recast on a more merciful basis.’ This lecture explores the youth crime crisis of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the age of criminal responsibility, detention of children in watchhouses, and the housing crisis were subjects of debate and potential reform for a more compassionate approach to juvenile justice. Political, legislative and judicial responses were cohesive and introduced children's courts across the country, contributing to the 150-year legacy shaping our conversations today.

Open Access

Robyn Blewer, 'Recasting the law on a more merciful basis: Juvenile justice then and now', 2025 Selden Society Lecture 1 given at the Banco Court, Brisbane, 8 May 2025

1 online video YouTube video

1 online speaker's notes (18 pages) PDF