The Wire

Research by charity group, Mission Australia has found that imprisoning youths in juvenile detention is 50 times more expensive than funding preventative programs. It costs over $150,000 to imprison a child, aged 10 to 17 for one year and after being released, more than half will re-offend. The research is based on the Mission Australia community program, Pasifika, that targets youths of Pacific Island heritage in South West Sydney. Mission Australia found that 65 per cent of participants did not re-offend within a year of completing the program. The charity group is calling on states and territories to invest more money in preventative programs and suggests that Pasifika be the model for all communities in Australia.