News and Events

More than 500 legal practitioners, community workers and academics have expressed grave concerns about the negative impacts of the New South Wales government’s plan to tighten bail laws in response to youth crime.

Redfern Legal Centre (RLC) has released a new report that reveals over a thousand children (aged 10-17 years) have been strip searched by NSW Police within a seven year period from June 2016 to July 2023. The report written by RLC solicitors, Samantha Lee and Josh Raj -‘The Need for Reform: Strip Searches of Children by NSW Police’ collates data about the number of children strip searched by NSW Police. The data was obtained from NSW Police via access to information law.

17 March 2024 Dear Premier Minns, Don't turn your back on Closing the Gap. Throwing more children in jail will make crime worse in regional communities, not better. Throwing more children in jail will lead to horrific outcomes for communities, families and those children, compounding abuse and trauma. Throwing more children in jail will cause unspeakable damage to Closing The Gap and efforts to create a better future for Aboriginal children in NSW.

In New South Wales, over seven years (from July 2016 to June 2023), a total of 1,546 children were subjected to an invasive strip search by NSW Police. An average of 220 children each year.

Redfern Legal Centre stands with a coalition of Aboriginal and legal organisations that say a secret proposal to tighten NSW bail laws for children would make NSW regional communities more dangerous. Multiple government sources have indicated off the record that a proposal to introduce punitive law and order measures – including changes to bail laws that will result in more children going to jail – may be considered as early as this week.

Let's Talk About Confidentiality is a research report published on 6 March 2024 by Sharmilla Bargon and Regina Featherstone, the inaugural Social Justice Practitioners-in-Residence at The University of Sydney. In August 2023, Bargon and Featherstone set out to find how sexual harassment practitioners were resolving out-of-court sexual harassment settlements and how they approached confidentiality terms.

The NSW Police Force has access to the highest-powered handgun available in Australia – the Glock semi-automatic. The Glock is a military-style handgun, with one of the largest magazine capabilities for a weapon of its class.

Any review of NSW Police firearm handling procedures should be conducted by an independent body with the findings made public, says Redfern Legal Centre.

The NSW government has been dealt a fresh blow as it faces allegations it conducted “unlawful” strip searches at popular music festivals.

Redfern Legal Centre (RLC) welcomes many of the findings and recommendations of the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) regarding the use of force against a First Nations child.