Our Projects and Publications

Some of the many youth justice-related projects currently running at the University of Sydney include:

• Postgraduate Occupational Therapy students are currently working with Youth Justice NSW Classification Officers to build on previous work developing resources to explain classification to young people.
• One Sydney Many People funding provided by the University of Sydney is supporting work focused on Closing the Gap Outcome 11, reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in youth detention.
• An oral history pilot project, led by Dr Jed Evans from the Discipline of English, involves long-term Youth Justice NSW custodial staff speaking about their experiences and insights. This pilot project is testing this approach to capturing stories from custodial staff about their experiences.
  

• Industry and Community Project Units bring together students from across various disciplines and faculties/schools, to look at applying innovation and creativity to solve real-world issues. In semester 1, 2023, students looked at multicultural practice and outcomes in the Youth Justice System. In semester 2, 2023, students explored the possibilities for digital innovations in the custodial setting. Youth Justice NSW was the industry partner for this project. 
  
• Two Digital Innovation student groups worked on gamifying parts of a widely used youth justice rehabilitation program.
• Two students within the unit of study Projects in Exercise Physiology within the Discipline of Exercise and Sport Science in the Faculty of Medicine and Health integrated an Exercise Physiology service for young people at the Cobham Youth Justice Centre. The projects added a structured exercise delivery service in group and one-on-one dynamics that takes into account specialised needs with respect to engagement and safety.
• A group of postgraduate strategic design students worked on a digital transformation project brief for Youth Justice NSW.
  
• Two groups of Law students worked on voluntary Law Reform Projects focused on legal issues of increasing the use of digital technology in youth custody and harmonising youth justice legislation in NSW. 
• Pasifika Review - Professor Jioji Ravulo undertook a formal review of the Pasifika Program implemented by Cobham Youth Justice Centre. The program works alongside young people who identify as being from an Indigenous-Pacific heritage to further support a deeper insight and understanding of cultural strengths and perspectives that support individual and family identities alongside their well-being. This initiative strived to decrease unhelpful behaviours whilst focussing on pro-social engagement with education, vocational pursuits and employment.
• Master of Occupational Therapy students undertaking a Community Fieldwork Project Placement (OCCP5239) developed a series of visual aid resources (pdf, 2.3MB) for Justice New South Wales. The placement was supervised by Associate Professor Garner Clancey and supported by academic instructors at The University of Sydney.
• An Industry and Community Project Unit in semester 1 2023. This unit brought students from across various disciplines and faculties/schools, to look at multicultural practice and outcomes in the Youth Justice System. Youth Justice NSW was the industry partner for this project.
• Two postgraduate exercise physiology students conducted an analysis of the contribution exercise physiology can make to young people in detention. This project was supervised by Dr Tim Davies. 
• Acoustic recordings were taken in several youth justice settings. Led by Associate Professor Densil Cabrera from the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, this small project looked at the acoustics of living areas of custodial units. 
• A working group consisting of University of Sydney and Youth Justice NSW staff explored the digital needs of the youth justice system. Digital Innovation students progressed this work in semester 1 2023. 
• Students from various University of Sydney faculties/schools (including criminology, social work, media and communication, politics, etc.) have completed placements with Youth Justice NSW in recent years.

In addition to these student placements, students have worked on various voluntary or for-credit projects. Some have included:

• Postgraduate strategic design students completed a project in semester 2 2022, which resulted in the 'A place to go' design guidance report (pdf, 10.7 MB).
• Digital Innovation students have worked on various youth justice projects. During semester 1 2021 a group developed virtual reality content depicting the day in the life of a youth officer working in a Youth Justice Centre (YJC). This involved filming in one centre and rendering the images in virtual reality. Students enrolled in the same unit worked on two YJNSW projects in semester 1 2022 focusing on a career pathways self-guided learning tool.
• USYD Law students volunteered for the Law Reform Support Project and worked on four YJNSW projects in semester 2 2021 (bail, terrorism/high-risk offenders, traffic, and age of criminal responsibility). 
• A group of students volunteered in semester 1 2022 and extended the work on the bail/short-term remand project, including developing materials for use in police training on making bail decisions. 
• Students worked on two projects for the Children’s Court of NSW in semester 2 2022. Both projects related to the sentencing of young people in Children’s Court.