The Victorian Children Youth and Families Act 2005 authorises the detention of children aged 10–17 years in Secure Welfare Services (SWS) if there is a substantial and immediate risk of harm. Children are generally on protection orders and administratively detained by the Department of Human Services. In 2014, the Children, Youth and Families Amendment (Security Measures) Bill 2013 was passed uncontested in parliament. It codifies existing SWS practices including searches, seizure of property, use of force and seclusion. The Security Measures Bill and associated government discourse construct children as risk and security as a necessary precursor to meeting their welfare needs. These conceptualisations problematise the safeguarding of children’s rights.
BessellSGalT (2009) Forming partnerships: The human rights of children in need of care and protection. International Journal of Children’s Rights17(2): 283–298.
3.
BrogiLBagleyC (1998) Abusing victims: Detention of child sexual abuse victims in secure accommodation. Child Abuse Review7(5): 315–329.
4.
Commission for Children and Young People (2014) Commission for children and Young People Strategic Plan 2014–2016. Victoria. Available at: http://www.ccyp.vic.gov.au/publications/index.htm (accessed 8 September 2014).
EronenRLaaksoRPösöT (2010) Now you see them – Now you don’t: Institutions in child protection policy. In: ForsbergHKrögerT (eds) Social Work and Child Welfare Politics: Through Nordic Lenses. Bristol: The Policy Press, 147–160.
7.
GarlandD (2003) The rise of risk. In: EricsonRDoyleA (eds) Risk and Morality. Toronto, ON, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 48–86.
8.
GoldsonB (1997) Children, crime, policy and practice: Neither welfare nor justice. Children & Society11(2): 77–88.
9.
GoldsonB (2000) ‘Children in need’ or ‘young offenders’: Hardening ideology, organizational change and new challenges for social work with children in trouble. Child & Family Social Work5: 255–265.
10.
GoldsonB (2005) Child imprisonment: A case for abolition. Youth Justice5: 77.
11.
GoldsonB (2006) Child protection and the ‘juvenile secure estate’ in England and Wales: Controversies and concerns. In: LockyerAStoneFHillM (eds) Youth Justice and Child Protection. London, England: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 104–119.
12.
GoldsonBKilkellyU (2013) International human rights standards and child imprisonment: Potentialities and limitations. The International Journal of Children’s Rights21(2): 345–371.
13.
HainesF (2011) The Paradox of Regulation: What Regulation Can Achieve and What It Cannot. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing.
14.
HainesFReichmanNScottC (2008) Problematizing legitimacy and authority. Law & Policy30: 1–11.
15.
Hannah-MoffatK (2005) Criminogenic needs and the transformative risk subject – Hybridizations of risk/need in penality. Punishment & Society-International Journal of Penology7(1): 29–51.
16.
HarrisRTimmsN (1993) Children in secure accommodation. British Journal of Social Work23(6): 597–612.
17.
HebentonBSeddonT (2009) From dangerousness to precaution: Managing sexual and violent offenders in an insecure and uncertain age. British Journal of Criminology49: 343–362.
18.
JamesAJenksC (1996) Public perceptions of childhood criminality. British Journal of Sociology47(2): 315–332.
19.
McAlindenA (2014) Deconstructing victim and offender identities in discourses on child sexual abuse. British Journal of Criminology54(2): 180–198.
20.
MeleCMillerA (2005) Collateral civil penalties as techniques of social policy. In: MeleCMillerA (eds) Civil Penalties, Social Consequences. New York: Routledge, 9–26.
21.
MuncieJ (2006) Governing young people: Coherence and contradiction in contemporary youth justice. Critical Social Policy26(4): 770–793.
22.
OlofssonAZinnbOJGriffinGNygrendGCebullaeAHannah-MoffatK (2014) The mutual constitution of risk and inequalities: Intersectional risk theory. Health, Risk & Society16(5): 417–430.
23.
O’NeillT (2001) Children in Secure Accommodation: A Gendered Exploration of Locked Institutional Care for Children in Trouble. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
PittsJKuulaT (2005) Incarcerating young people: An Anglo-Finnish comparison. Youth Justice5: 147–164.
26.
PösöTKitinojaMKekoniT (2010) Locking up for the best interests of the child: Some preliminary remarks on ‘special care’. Youth Justice10(3): 245–257.
27.
SmithRGardnerR (1996) Secure accommodation under the Children Act 1989: Legislative confusion and social ambivalence. The Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law18(2): 173–187.
Victorian Department of Human Services (2013) Victoria’s vulnerable children: Sur shared responsibility: Strategy 2013–2022. Melbourne: Victorian Department of Human Services.
