Youth justice Children who come into contact with the criminal justice system have the same rights as other children—including the right to be kept safe, be heard, and be treated in a way that promotes their dignity and worth. They also have special rights specific to their experiences. Reintegration and rehabilitation should be a key aim of how children are treated in youth justice. Wherever possible, measures should not resort to judicial proceedings. Detention should only be used as a measure of last resort, and for the shortest appropriate period of time. The law must also set a minimum age below which a child should not be considered to have the capacity to commit an offence. In Australia, although the numbers of children in the youth justice system are small, and have been declining over the past five years, there are still a significant number of children coming into contact with the youth justice system. Also, while the overall numbers of all children have declined, the level of overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children has risen over the same period. Children with disability are also overrepresented in the youth justice system, particularly children with intellectual disabilities or psychosocial disabilities.43 In some jurisdictions, declarations of unfitness to stand trial may lead to the 21