Veritas Lecture: June  

In recent years the Northern Territory’s (NT) youth justice system has undergone a range of reforms involving increasingly punitive responses to youth offending and major changes to youth diversion and prevention initiatives. At the same time, the NT has the highest rate of ‘crossover’ children nationally, whereby children who reside in out-of-home care (OOHC) engage in offending behaviours. Drawing on interviews with 53 key stakeholders, experts and those with lived experience of child protection and youth justice system involvement, the interviews detail the ways in which children experience ‘criminalisation’ in the NT’s OOHC system, and how youth justice system reforms interact with these children. The findings identify a range of experiences, adversities and practices for children in OOHC that lead to offending behaviours, including children in OOHC without essential supports or adequate case management, quality care plans, psychological and disability assessment, as well as significant cultural isolation for Aboriginal children. They also detail an increasingly punitive, harmful and culturally isolating youth justice system that lacks early intervention and diversion initiatives, operating with a flawed deterrence logic. Recommendations include major legislative and programmatic reforms with children’s rights at their core.

Event details:
Wednesday 24 June 2026, 5.30pm - 7.00pm
5:30pm - light refreshments
6pm - lecture and Q&A 

This is a hybrid event.
In person: ACU Canberra campus, Veritas Building, Building 301, Level 1, Room 20, 127 Phillip Avenue, Watson
Virtually: via MS Teams.

When you register, you will receive a registration confirmation. If you registered to attend virtually, the registration confirmation will contain the MS Teams link to join.

Dr Steven Roche 

Dr Steven Roche is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work in the School of Allied Health and is also on secondment as a Senior Research Fellow at ACU’s Institute of Child Protection Studies. His research generates evidence utilising the perspectives and experiences of services users and professionals to develop innovative practice and policy solutions to complex welfare issues. He has led and contributed to applied research and practice development initiatives nationally, with a focus on enhancing child and family practice and policy settings. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and a range of research reports across the fields of child protection, social work and social policy, and is an Associate Editor for the Australian Journal of Social Issues.

For event related questions, please contact campus.deancanberra@acu.edu.au