Dr. Sharon Lambert:

I think that would be a blanket statement. There are always going to be exceptions to the rule. Sometimes people pose a risk to themselves and others, so some kind of detention is required. With those policies what we are doing is fire-fighting. When we are talking about that there has already been a victim. Policies that catch it earlier are what we need to prioritise.

If we look at the statistics, a couple of years ago Oberstown looked at the profile of the young people who were in detention there. It found that there were many children who had experienced really awful social situations and many of them were not in education. It cost a lot of money to detain them in Oberstown. If they are in Oberstown, there are potentially victims. What if that money had been invested in trauma-sensitive education, youth and community work? One of the best things for young people is having a really good youth worker. We know from data that what many young people need is one good adult, and youth workers are frequently that one good adult, and then supporting parents. Thinking about the youth diversion projects, it is a fact that 54% of young people had a parent with a mental health difficulty. Where a parent is unwell and unable to access the services they need, that has a profound impact on the child. Supporting children in the context of their families, in their communities, will reduce victimisation.