WA government pledges support for youth crime prevention

Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis has announced his support for the Liveworks Program, which aims to keep children out of detention centres by teaching them the basics of the building industry.

Minister Francis hopes that along the way, these programs will install work ethic and a sense of pride amongst the children.

“My intention is to keep finding money to put into programs like this because I'm a believer that if you spend a little bit of money, you can save an awful lot, and you can save members of the community of the heartbreak of being victims of crime,” says Francis.

Government figures show that it costs on average more than 600 dollars per day, per detainee, but for diversionary programs it's an average 77 dollars per day, per participant.

In a recent one-year period, it would have cost less than 30,000 dollars for diversionary programs, but almost 200,000 dollars more for detention.

Minister Joe Francis says his Liberal government is listening and will increase diversionary funding as locking up young offenders is becoming too expensive.

The state government is spending more than 3 million dollars elsewhere by repairing and upgrading security at the Banksia Hill detention centre, which was damaged during a riot more than seven months ago.

Young detainees, and those on remand, have been kept at an adult prison ever since.

The deadline to start moving them out has been extended from late August to the end of October.

Critics say it's time for a radical overhaul of the youth justice system and to appoint someone to lead the change.

“The model of having a single point of responsibility such as a juvenile justice commissioner has a lot of merit and it's something that the government is giving serious consideration to,” says Francis.

Minister Francis says the Liberal state government will make a decision in the coming months about appointing a juvenile justice commissioner.

READ: Inside WA's juvenile justice system