NAMED AND SHAMED

The Northern Territory's policy of naming and shaming juvenile offenders is under attack:

ANNE BARKER: Barrister Mark Hunter believes the Territory laws not only breach Australia's obligations under the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, but fly in the face of what justice is all about.

MARK HUNTER: It can have a disintegrative and stigmatising effect, tending to create a class of outcasts, particularly within already marginalised sectors of the young population.

The ABC's The Law Report covered this in early October:

Damien Carrick: Barrister Mark Hunter speaking there about one of his clients who was 15 when he was involved in a brawl and was charged with a number of counts of aggravated assault.

When he went to court, the teenager made it onto the front page of Darwin's daily newspaper.

The boy's father, Doug Duncan, says even years later the whole family, but especially his son, are still paying the price.

Doug Duncan: He walks around with a chip on his shoulder now because it's just very hard for him to get a job, because then he's recognised and put on the front of the papers.

Damien Carrick: Do people ever approach him in the street, or did people at the time approach him in the street and say, "I recognise you?"

Doug Duncan: Yes, when he was 17, after he went to court and everything, he'd been picked on shopping centres up here, walked over, approached by older... and blokes walking over and saying, "You're the little punk that was on the pages" and everything.

Damien Carrick: Tell me, was there any impact on yourself and other family members?

Doug Duncan: Yes, my wife used to get up at night, having problems with sleeping, trying to think what's happening to him and everything. But even myself, we couldn't have a decent night's sleep over it. Look, I don't condone what my son has done or anything, in any way, shape or form, but to name them like that, I think you're just cutting their legs out from under them; they've got no option but to go on the streets, live on the streets, and live by their wits. They can't get jobs, decent jobs, anyhow. And with him, we're six years down the line now, and he still can't get a job.

The ABC revisited this story today, with Doug Duncan's story now a bit different:

ANNE BARKER: A few years ago Doug Duncan's 15-year-old son got himself into a brawl and was charged with several counts of assault. He was convicted and given a two-year good behaviour bond, a penalty he's long since paid.

DOUG DUNCAN: Well, he can't get a decent job, he can't go out in public, he cannot dare show his face around town.

ANNE BARKER: Even now?

DOUG DUNCAN: Yeah, even now. You know, his mother still has nightmares him getting hurt or something or the police are going to damage him, or something. He's picked on by the police, the police picks on him all the time now.

Naming and shaming either forces kids to live on the streets or prevents them leaving the house. If they aren't leaving the house they're probably not being a nuisance to the community. Mission accomplished.