Question Without Notice No. 218 asked in the Legislative Council on 29 March 2018 by Hon Robin Scott
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
ABORIGINAL OFFENDERS — INCARCERATION ALTERNATIVES
218. Hon ROBIN SCOTT to the Leader of the House representing the Attorney General:
In light of recent confirmation of the excessively large number of young Indigenous Australians who are behind bars, will the Attorney General consider legislating for courts to have a further alternative to custodial sentencing for young offenders so that instead of putting a young offender behind bars, a court will be able to appoint a full-time mentor to the offender?
Hon SUE ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
The Attorney General is currently considering a range of legislative amendments regarding the interactions that Indigenous Western Australians have with the justice system, including alternatives to custodial sentences for a range of matters and shares the member's concern about high rates of incarceration of adult Aboriginal people.
In relation to young offenders, the member should address his question to the minister representing the Minister for Corrective Services.