The Worth A Second Chance Podcast

Jesuit Social Services
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The Worth A Second Chance Podcast

The Worth A Second Chance podcast explores true stories, challenges and solutions from the frontlines of Australia's youth justice systems.

  1. SEASON 3 TRAILER

    Worth A Second Chance podcast season 3 trailer

    Welcome to the third season of the Worth A Second Chance podcast – sharing true stories, challenges and solutions from the frontlines of Australia's youth justice systems.  Youth justice in Australia is at a tipping point. Right across the country, we’re seeing young people locked up in harsh prison environments that we know aren’t stopping crime. Reoffending rates are high, and kids aren’t getting the support they need to turn their lives around. It’s clear our current approaches aren’t working. And people are calling for change. Our new season, launching in February, spotlights the evidence-based programs and justice solutions that we know work. Subscribe to be the first to hear new episodes, and join the campaign for more fair, effective and humane youth justice systems at worthasecondchance.com.au

    2 min

  2. 11/25/2022

    Elle Jackson shares what an effective youth justice system looks like for Victoria

    Victorians will vote in a state election on Saturday. Every election is important, and this one comes as many Victorians continue to experience hardship and disadvantage. The current government has enacted a range of important reforms that work towards reducing inequality – like stronger support for kids leaving out-of-home care, and a new youth justice framework that will give young people the support they need to turn their lives around – but there’s more to be done. For 45 years, Jesuit Social Services, the organisation Worth A Second Chance, has delivered services and advocated to drive positive social change in Victoria. This election is no different. We recently released our election platform, which is a blueprint for a social change agenda for Victoria, offering recommendations for reform across a range of interconnected social policy areas, including youth justice. Today, Jesuit Social Services Policy Manager – Victoria, Elle Jackson, shares what a fair, effective and humane youth justice system for Victoria involves, how our next government could get us there, and the positive impact this reform would have on the lives of young people in trouble, their families, and our whole community. Notes for this episode Jesuit Social Services’ Victorian state election platform Our Youth Our Way report

    41 min

  3. 11/09/2022

    Pat Ansell Dodds tells the “bigger picture” of youth crime in Northern Australia

    The recent fatal beating of a young Aboriginal boy in Perth has shone a light on a range of issues impacting Aboriginal youth in the community. Sadly, it’s something that happens everywhere, including on the streets of Mparntwe, or Alice Springs, where we’re calling into today. Northern Australia is no stranger to headlines about youth crime rates. The Northern Territory has the highest rate of youth imprisonment in the country. It locks up kids at a rate of about five times the national average, and over the last year we have data for, the number of kids in detention rose by seventy-eight per cent in twelve months. But kids in the Territory aren’t acting out five times more frequently than kids elsewhere. Today, we speak with Arrernte and Amjatere elder Pat Ansell Dodds about the bigger picture of youth crime in the Northern Territory – and the role country, culture and respect play in keeping kids out of trouble.

    14 min

  4. 10/28/2022

    Treat kids in detention like kids, not criminals, says award-winning researcher Sanne Oostermeijer

    Most of us know what a prison typically looks like. Cells, bars, locks, barbed wire, high fences – generally pretty harsh places. But picture this instead. Not hundreds of beds but just eight, for the whole facility. Located in the neighbourhood, not hundreds of kilometres out of the way. An environment that feels more like a home than a jail; semi-open, not locked up, and where staff and residents have dynamic and respectful relationships. It’s not a pipedream – it’s the idea that won Dr Sanne Oostermeijer and architect Matthew Dwyer the $30,000 Melbourne Design Challenge in 2018. Sanne and Matthew’s idea outlined best practices for the design of youth justice facilities, which can support young people onto a better path after time in detention. On today’s episode, Sanne shares how good design can lead to better outcomes and safer communities. Here are the links we mention in this episode: Sanne and Matthew’s award-winning design guidelines Jesuit Social Services’ Justice Solutions tour reports – US and Europe, New Zealand Note This is an edited and reworked version of a conversation Sanne had with Jess Sanders for our Community Check-in video series in 2021. We’ve re-recorded the questions with this season’s podcast host for consistency across all episodes.

    16 min

  5. 10/04/2022

    How ex-cop Dean McGowan "fell through the cracks", reset his life, and served 33 years with compassion and care

    Victoria Police process around seven thousand young people every year. If you were an officer, you’d meet them every day – from the kids pinching chocolate from the shops and skateboarding without their helmets, to the less common and more serious behaviour, like breaking into cars. How many warnings and lectures could you give before you started wondering if anyone was really listening? Dean McGowan recently finished up after thirty-three years with Victoria Police. He’s investigated some of the most complex and distressing crimes you can imagine – but he’s not quite ready to lock up young people who offend and throw away the key. Dean’s had first-hand experience of needing help from teachers and family to keep his life on track. Experience that has shaped the person he is and the way he does his work. On today’s episode, he talks about how police can move young people away from the justice system, while still holding them responsible for their actions, about the consequences of impulsivity and bad decisions, and tells his own story, of a wayward youth turned around.

    16 min

  6. 09/26/2022

    Dave Hammond wants a youth justice system grounded in connection and restitution, not hatred and blame

    Imagine you’re a kind-hearted community development worker, who believes young people are worthy, and need support, not punishment, when they do the wrong thing – and then one night, one of those kids breaks into your house. That happened to Dave Hammond. He’s worked for many years in homelessness and community services, including previously leading Jesuit Social Services’ work in western Sydney. A 14-year-old boy was one member of a group who broke into Dave and his wife Sal’s house a few years ago. Dave and Sal could have asked for the kid to be thrown in jail – but instead they took a closer look at what was going on in his life. Today, Dave tells that story – and much more, about the choices and moments that make us who we are.

    22 min

  7. 09/07/2022

    Researcher Rob Bonnet’s “ripple effect” theory for reducing crime without using prisons

    When a young person commits a crime, some people might call for them to be sent to jail. A place to punish them, to keep the community safe, and to deter others from doing the same thing. But the evidence tells us prisons aren’t effective at stopping crime. Eighty per cent of young people in Victoria will reoffend within a year of leaving detention, and the experience of being isolated in a harsh prison environment doesn’t help someone get on a better path. Now, new research shows that an approach called group conferencing is nearly twice as effective in reducing reoffending – without sending kids to prison. Today, researcher Rob Bonnet tells us why. Rob’s PhD research evaluated the effectiveness of the Victorian Government’s Youth Justice Group Conferencing program – the program brings together people who have offended with the victims of their actions in dialogue, to restore relationships, heal harm, and change behaviour. Here's what Rob found, why it works, and what this research could mean for youth justice in Victoria.

    24 min

  8. 08/28/2022

    Kane Apelu celebrates resilience, ingenuity and second chances for un-housed youth in the justice system

    Research tells us there’s a clear link between youth homelessness and involvement with the criminal justice system. Young people who are un-homed are more likely to engage in what’s called ‘survival crimes’, like stealing, to meet their needs, and are more likely to be seen and caught by police while they’re doing it. And people already in the justice system are more likely to be homeless as they come out, because of the challenges they face in finding work and accommodation with a criminal record. It’s tough. But it means if you can connect a young person with a home, you might be able to interrupt that cycle – and start to address the root causes of their offending behaviour, helping them leave crime behind. Today, hear from Kane Apelu on the Worth A Second Chance podcast. Kane manages Jesuit Social Services’ housing programs, and told us more about the link between being un-housed and getting caught up in the justice system – and the compassion, respect and support that make a real difference to young people’s lives.

    23 min
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The Worth A Second Chance podcast explores true stories, challenges and solutions from the frontlines of Australia's youth justice systems.

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