Locked Up & Locked Out: Incarceration & Children's Interests

Abstract

In this thesis I question the justifiability of the current practice of juvenile incarceration. I argue that children have rights borne out of both extrinsic and intrinsic interests. I suggest that the detained child's interests in development allow us to justify incarceration as a means of moral education. However, I conclude that the current practice of juvenile incarceration--as evidenced in Queensland--violates the detained child's rights to carefreeness, connection, and future autonomy. In doing so, the justifiability and permissibility of the practice is undermined.