Jailing young people contracted by gangs not the answer, advocate says

Young people contracted by gangs to commit crimes "shouldn't be punished" for being "exploited", a justice reform advocate says.

It comes after the government announced young people could face adult penalties if convicted of organised crime violence.

New penalties announced

The raft of proposed measures includes a maximum sentence of life imprisonment under new aggravated offences for conspiracy and attempted murder.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said at the time some children were being contracted by underworld figures on the dark web "for a very small amount of money" and had a disregard for the consequences of their actions.

Last week university student Marco Tapia and 40-year-old Joshua Macdonald were shot in what NSW Police suspect to be "mistaken identity" shootings.

Joshua Macdonald (left) and Marco Tapia were both killed in separate shootings last week. (Supplied)

Government response

At a press conference last week, NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley described this "new model" as a case of "whack-a-mole".

"Every time somebody is removed from the streets another person is there, a vulnerable person is there, a young person is there," she said.

Within the last 12 months, Taskforce Falcon, which was set up to combat organised crime violence, had arrested more than 800 perpetrators, including young people.

Justice reform advocate's response

Justice Reform Initiative (JRI) executive director Mindy Sotiri said "we shouldn't be punishing children because adults are exploiting them".

"If children are being exploited by adult gang members, that's child abuse, that's child exploitation," she said.

"The way to respond to children's involvement in this sort of activity is not by further criminalising children or further pushing them deeper into a system which is absolutely only going to lead to them engaging in more serious reoffending."

"We cannot hold children to the same standards that we hold [as] adults because they are not able to be criminally responsible in the same ways."

She said "prison itself causes harm" by exacerbating common disadvantage among children, which increases reoffending chances.

"The current situation in Australia is that 85 per cent of children who go to prison return within 12 months," Ms Sotiri said.

She said there were approximately 208 children in NSW prisons, of which "the majority are not sentenced" and "haven't actually been found guilty of anything".

"Most people are released without any sort of order," Ms Sotiri said.

She said the reasons why young people turned to crime needed to be addressed.

Youth Justice NSW response

Youth Justice NSW executive director Kelly-Anne Stewart said while it was important there were consequences for actions, the service recognised some of the "most vulnerable" young people can be involved.

"School disengagement and educational exclusion; out-of-home care, homelessness and housing instability; disability, mental health, drug and alcohol issues, family dysfunction, poverty and intergenerational trauma all figure large in the lives of young people with Youth Justice," Ms Stewart said.

"In Youth Justice we work with a commitment to do everything we can to support the young people we are engaging with reach their full potential without further offending, which in turn makes our communities safer."

International approaches

The JRI brought international experts to Australia who oversaw "absolutely transformative shifts" in youth justice in their respective countries.

They gave evidence of successful approaches to the NSW Parliamentary Select Committee on Youth Justice, and a Federal Senate Inquiry into Australia's youth justice and incarceration system.

NSW government initiatives

Ms Stewart said the government had committed $146.3 million in the last budget towards early intervention and diversion programs like Youth on Track and NSW's Safe Aboriginal Youth Program, to help guide young people at risk away from crime.

"Many of these intervention initiatives are being co-designed with local communities to ensure they meet local needs, because we understand that there is no one-size-fits-all solution," she said.

Ms Catley said last Thursday NSW Police was "pulling its weight" working with young people to keep them out of the justice system and recognised the Police Youth Command's involvement in south-west Sydney.

She also mentioned POLEN, where police work with Polynesian communities and involve influential elders to talk about respect and the "path of destruction" crime can cause.

"Quite frankly, we need to work together as a community to really identify when these kids are starting to go off the rails and also then having an opportunity for them to have some mentors, to have some opportunity," she said.