Mandatory detention laws in Australia
Submission by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to the inquiry by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee into the Human Rights (Mandatory Sentencing of Juvenile Offenders) Bill 1999
Mandatory detention laws were enacted in Western Australia and the Northern Territory in 1996 and 1997 respectively. Essentially these laws require courts to impose minimum sentences of detention or imprisonment for people convicted of certain offences. They effectively remove judicial discretion in relation to those offences.
The Human Rights (Mandatory Sentencing of Juvenile Offenders) Bill, presented to the Federal Parliament, aims to override the WA and NT legislation. The Commission's submission supports the Bill and details
- how mandatory detention violates children's rights at international law and
- how international law supports and in some cases requires the implementation of alternatives to detention.
