Policy analysis of the proposed juvenile justice act in the context of children's rights: Implications for children, families and education

Australia ratified The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (The Convention) in December 1990. In ratifying The Convention, Australian Governments undertook to implement each of the Articles of The Convention by examining current legal statutes and changing those statutes which the government considered were not in the interests of children. The process of implementation is further complicated by the fact that despite having certain rights, some children also breach the law and consequently come under the legal jurisdiction of juvenile justice. The main focus of the present study is the interface between children's rights and the implementation of the juvenile justice process.

In order to examine the interface between children's rights and juvenile justice, a policy analysis was undertaken which was specifically pertinent to the Queensland system and which compared the government's responsibilities under The Convention together with the proposed changes to the Juvenile Justice Act in Queensland. These proposed changes were analyzed for the implications which they had for the children themselves, the children's parents and the children's education.