Inspections, reviews, inquiries and recommendations pertaining to youth justice centres in New South Wales between 2015 and 2021

ABSTRACT It is widely recognised that there is a lack of analysis of criminal justice policy-making (and youth justice policy-making specifically) within the wider criminological project. To partially address the gap, this article focuses on one part of the dynamic and complex policy-making environment—reviews, inquiries and findings of oversight bodies between 2015 and 2021 relevant to youth detention in New South Wales (NSW). We estimate that the reports arising from these inquiries and reviews have generated approximately 1040 recommendations (approximately 590 relevant to Youth Justice NSW (YJNSW) broadly and 284 relevant to youth justice centres more specifically). The sheer volume of recommendations, some of which are very broad, raises questions about the ability of an agency, such as YJNSW, to implement them; about which recommendations might be prioritised; and how YJNSW might resolve conflicts between recommendations arising from different and often parallel processes. We suggest that, for the purposes of achieving the best outcomes for young people in custody, there might be greater merit in having fewer inquiries that deal with parts of youth detention and a coordinated and prioritised response to recommendations to address issues of youth detention.