Justice Health
To improve the lives of young people in youth justice systems in Australia and overseas.
We aim to turn young people’s lives around by diagnosing and treating health conditions, providing support to improve health and social outcomes and reduce re-offending, and advocating on their behalf.
Most people in Australia’s youth justice system are supervised in the community while serving community-based orders but 16 per cent are placed in detention or remand centres. Compared to their peers, they have a higher prevalence of mental health conditions and suicidal behaviours, more substance abuse disorders, more neurodevelopmental disabilities such as ADHD or autism, and more infectious diseases including sexually transmitted infections.
Screening for health and developmental difficulties while adolescents are in the justice system can identify unmet needs – often for the first time – and tailor evidence-based support to improve health outcomes and reduce re-offending once back in the community.
To make these improvements, we need greater investment in transitional programs and public health services.
More information
- Centre of Research Excellence Adolescent Health
- Action needed to improve poor health and disadvantage in the youth justice system
- Mental health Rising Star says a health focus is vital to help kids in detention
- The health of adolescents in detention: a global scoping review – The Lancet Public Health
- Health determinants of adolescent criminalisation – The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
- Centre for Adolescent Health: Lancet Standing Commission on adolescent health and wellbeing – The Royal Children's Hospital
Group Leaders
Our research
Young people in juvenile detention have a disastrous health profile that costs them dearly in premature death and disability, and the community in their reoffending. The health problems of young offenders are closely connected to their offending. They become caught in a vicious cycle in which substance abuse and mental disorders contribute to their offending. There is a compelling case for investing in health and job training as they enter the justice system and return to the community. Innovations in monitoring the health of adult offenders should extend to young offenders where the best opportunities for early intervention lie.
We seek to generate world-class evidence on the health and health service experiences of justice-involved populations. It advocates for evidence-informed policy to improve the health and wellbeing of these disadvantaged young people. Research on their health needs is central to addressing the health inequalities they face.
Our group works closely with health and justice agencies in Australia, leading researchers internationally, and key international agencies. Our research focuses on the health of young offenders as programs to improve their health and prospects which will lead to a better quality of life and are more likely to reduce reoffending than “getting tough on crime.”
Action needed to improve poor health and disadvantage in the youth justice system
In the first global review, researchers from the University of Melbourne, Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and University of Sheffield in the UK have examined the health of detained adolescents from 245 peer-reviewed journal articles and review publications.
Lancet Commission on adolescent health and wellbeing
The Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing was established in 2013 and was a partnership of 30 of the world’s leading experts (those working in academic and technical institutions, and those at the policy/ implementation coalface) from 14 countries and two youth health advocates. The Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing argues that there are tremendous unrealised opportunities not only for the health and wellbeing of young people themselves but also for the future of society and future generations.
Featured publications
Ensuring the highest attainable standard of health for children deprived of their liberty, 20241.68 MB PDF.
Researchers from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), the Justice Health Group at Curtin University and the FXB (François-Xavier Bagnoud) Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University have collaborated on a report that shines a light on one of the most neglected areas in the protection of children.
The health of adolescents in detention: a global scoping review. 2020