#RaiseTheAge 🧵Why does an early prison sentence increase rather than decrease the odds of future criminality? Well, it’s predominantly about the stage of development. First kids this age don’t fully understand consequences of behaviours in the same way as adults 1/14
They’re rigid in their understanding of right & wrong & driven by an external fear of punishment. Criminalise kids at that stage of development & you risk their moral reasoning ability stagnating at that level. What this means is they learn how to avoid punishment 2/14
(e.g., by becoming better at evading law enforcement; or telling better lies) rather than developing a greater sense of moral reasoning based on an internal working model of right & wrong. Second; attachment matters.
3/14
Compromised attachment occurs when there is disconnection from primary attachment figures.When kids are imprisoned, they learn not to rely on close attachments for their emotional needs. We know that compromised attachment gets passed into future generations & relationships 4/14
We are seeing this in practical action in which there are ‘generationally incarcerated’ cohorts of kids in every district & region who make up the bulk of the crime stats. These kids have often had a family member who has been imprisoned.
5/14
We know exposure to criminality whilst not ensuring this pathway certainly increases the odds partic given the absence of early interv’n & prev’n programs. 3rd kids thrive based on their worlds being predictable. That the love of prim attachments are predictable & consistent 6/14
Lose that at such a young age and the evidence shows it is almost impossible to recover from this loss. How a child makes meaning of this loss is tied in with their developmental stage. This occurs by either blaming others or internalising blame. 7/14
Either way the results are you develop in kids the idea you can’t rely on anyone to love you. Or kids develop a sense of self-loathing.These outcomes are consistent with the personality variables of those who have nothing to lose & don’t fear anything anymore incl prison 8/14
4th we have long seen studies which indicate that between 80%-93% of kids who are incarcerated have trauma.
Untreated childhood trauma has strong links with substance abuse and violence. We should not be criminalising children for what are often normal, trauma reactions. 9/14
It’s important we understand this trajectory & its links with future criminality & why assessing for & treating trauma is so critical to prevention. 
Those with trauma tend to be more impulsive & limited in their capacity to ‘self soothe’ or calm. 10/14
We are already starting to see that most youth & adult crimes are highly impulsive, or reactive to interpersonal conflict. So, placing traumatized children with other traumatised children creates an environment that ensures heightened reactivity to others becomes normalised 11/14
Finally a strange argument I’ve heard often is “kids feel safer in prison, than their own homes”-which you would think is why we should NOT be putting kids in prison! 
But what is at the core of this is Aust is comfortable criminalising black kids who are victims of trauma 12/14
This requires we search within ourselves & ask when we lose our compassion for kids who are being traumatised in their homes. Well in Aust our Govt says we lose that compassion at 10. At 10 you don’t get a do over when you have parents Ltd in their capacity to care for you 13/14
I had parents who loved me. I always felt safe. That’s luck. Until we have empathy for this we will continue criminalising children for being born into circumstances over which they have no control
14/14

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More from @TracyWesterman

Feb 16
1/6: A TRAUMA THREAD:
Flight/fight/freeze are common responses to trauma. The ability to activate all three mechanisms is why people both survive & heal from traumatic events. Much of this ability is genetic & biological (or what we inherit as a stress response mechanism).
2/6 Post trauma occurs when cognitions become so altered after trauma that the mind tells the body to see threat everywhere(imagined rather than real). It’s a “misfiring”& ensures flight/fight response is activated regardless of threat.Over time this response becomes normalised
3/6 Freeze is an essential “holding pattern” that occurs when traumatic events take a while for the brain to process or “catch up” with what is occurring
Read 6 tweets
Feb 15
The Jilya Model

🟠 Stream 2: Training in treatments of best practice Image
Currently, and despite the significantly high rates of suicide, estimated rates of trauma and mental ill health there are no established treatments of ‘best practice’ that have been empirically tested with Aboriginal clients.
Jilya aims to address this issue through research grants, and partnerships to fund a dedicated team of clinicians who will work to determine treatments of best practice for trauma, depression, attachment, etc. that run across the spectrum of mental health, suicide…
Read 5 tweets
Feb 12
1/9 The Dept of Communities last week claimed removal rates of Aboriginal kids had decreased for the 1st time since 1997. This was in response to a report commissioned to my company exposed widespread systemic racism was leaked by a whistleblower after being buried for 3yrs.
2/9 So I went through their annual reports over the past 4yrs to fact check.I put it in a table& line graph so you can follow it.
The main issue is they use the terms "rates & number" of kids removed from families interchangeably & its misleading
3/9 So if you look at the table some things stand out as follows:
*Essentially the NUMBER of Aboriginal kids in care has INCREASED overall by 296 in the last four years.
*At the same time, the NUMBER of non-Aboriginal kids in care has DECREASED overall by 19
Read 9 tweets
Feb 10
1/9 The core of understanding cultural attachment lies in the differences in Aboriginal parenting. Natural growth parenting teaches interdependence & is often confused for attachment disorders from a mainstream, nuclear family attachment model.
2/9 Many Aboriginal kids meet the criteria for attachment 'disorders' based on cultural differences.Eg. Natural growth parenting means a greater focus on the concept of “It takes a whole community to raise a child”.
3/9 Community& kin are equally responsive &responsible as biological parents to the emotional & attachments needs of kids.
Kinship parenting is often viewed as neglect; as chaotic parenting; as no one caring for a child or the child having no predictability.
Read 9 tweets
Jan 29
*Trigger warning on abuse.
The long term & entrenched impacts of psychological & emotional domestic violence & abuse & its devastating impacts on victims is so badly understood. In many of the worst abusive rships, physical violence is minor or barely present 1/15
In Australia 1 woman a week is killed by an intimate partner. These statistics worryingly tell us it’s not the predator lurking down back alleys women should fear, but the men they fall in love with. The criminalisation of coercive control is such a critical step 2/15
As the family of Hannah Clarke said after she was burnt alive by her ex husband along with her three beautiful children; “Hannah never thought it was abuse because he never hit her”. However, the family had long seen many red flags 3/15
Read 15 tweets
Dec 31, 2021
1 of my most engaged tweets of 2021!
Scott Morrison comments re George Floyd’s murder
“As upsetting & terrible is the murder that took place & its shocking. I just think how wonderful a country is Aust”
A sample of some of Austs George Floyd moments.Warning: its horrific. 1/16
Ms Dhu died in custody of septicemia & pneumonia for $2k in unpaid fines. A victim of DV. Taken to hospital 2xs but sepsis not detected & sent back to custody. Inquest found she was subjected to “inhumane” treatment by police incl being called a “fucking junkie”. No charges. 2/16
Mr Ward, respected elder, blew over the limit. Transported 4hrs without air conditioning. Was literally cooked alive. No charges laid.
If you left your dog in a car & it was cooked alive, you would be criminally charged. The AG decided no 'reasonable prospect of conviction'.3/16
Read 16 tweets

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