Criminology Research Council grant ; (8/79)
The aim of the project was to describe and account for the perspectives of juvenile defendants on the Children's Court system in Western Australia. An 'observational' sample of 472 youths was selected from cases as they were being processed through the courts at Perth, Fremantle, Midland and Kalgoorlie (of these 436, or 92.6 per cent, were actually observed in court). From this sample, 151 youths were interviewed and 147 of these interviews formed the basis of analysis for the project.
The findings indicated that a sizeable minority of youths felt that they had been unfairly treated by the court or had difficulty in understanding the proceedings. In addition the majority of the youths held views of the function of the court which differed significantly from official policy.
This research indicated that arrest rather than summons was the chief avenue of prosecution of juveniles; this goes against the spirit of the Child Welfare Act (1947-1977) which calls for action to be taken against children by way of notice to appear in court. More importantly, it seemed to be common practice for the police to interview youths about offences without their parents or other independent adults being present. While there may be differences in the degree of the intensity of the interrogation process, it is still by nature coercive and juveniles r are not as capable as adults in withstanding the pressures created.
Whereas it must be stressed that the experiences of the large number of youths during apprehension processing and interrogation were good, characterised as matter of fact affairs, one in five youths complained of assaults or threats at various stages. If substantiated, these findings would indicate that changes are required in the police handling of juvenile offenders.
Once in court, juveniles had problems understanding the proceedings and in identifying key personnel. According to their own assessments 35 per cent of the youths were only able to understand some of the proceedings, the main reason for this being due to the complexity of the language used. Only 41 percent of youths were aware of the identity of the Department for Community Welfare court officer. Four in 10 of the youths were unsure if there was a relationship, or thought that there was no connection, between the court and the Department of Community Welfare.
In the context of fear and uncertainty relating to the court the general view of the youths was one of 'getting it over with'. This view was given support by the widespread belief that 'you can't beat the cops'. Because of the centrality of the youths' perceptions of guilt, it was considered that magistrates need to take more steps to ensure that defendants know and fully understand the charges against them.
Though the majority (85 per cent) of defendants were accompanied to court by parents or others, only 35 per cent were legally represented. Significantly, more Aboriginal than non-Aboriginal youths were represented. The greater use of legal representation by Aborigines was due to the continuous 'outreach' policy adopted by the Aboriginal Legal System. However, most youths, especially non-Aboriginal youths, felt that legal representation was not necessary.