Selden Society 2025 lecture one—Recasting the law on a more merciful basis: juvenile justice then and now

The first Selden Society lecture for 2025, Recasting the law on a more merciful basis: juvenile justice then and now, will be presented by Dr Robyn Blewer from the Griffith Law School. 

Thursday 8 May 
5.15 for 5.30pm 

This lecture is free to attend. Light refreshments will be served in the Portrait Gallery afterwards. 

If you are unable to attend in person, the lecture will also be livestreamed. Register via Zoom. 

About the lecture 

In 1897, a Perth newspaper reported on the distressed state of two young boys who’d been remanded in custody in the local watchhouse for stealing a pigeon: ‘the punishment, even if guilty ... must have been greater than many a women beater or hardened thief suffers. If the system is to blame, it is high time that it was recast on a more merciful basis.’  

This lecture explores the youth crime crisis of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the age of criminal responsibility, detention of children in watchhouses, and the housing crisis were subjects of debate and potential reform for a more compassionate approach to juvenile justice. Political, legislative and judicial responses were cohesive and introduced children's courts across the country, contributing to the 150-year legacy shaping our conversations today. 

About the speaker 

Robyn is a lecturer at Griffith Law School, specialising in criminal trial procedure and vulnerable witness testimony. She completed a Master of Criminology and Criminal Justice in 2012, and her doctoral research focused on Australia’s child witness law as part of The Prosecution Project. In 2019, Robyn became Director of the Griffith University Innocence Project. She also teaches Criminal Law courses and has experience in commercial litigation and volunteering with Salvos Legal Humanitarian. 

Enquiries

• Phone 1300 SCLQLD (1300 725 753)
• Submit an online enquiry at sclqld.org.au/contact

Image: Surry Hills Children’s Court in New South Wales. Photo by Simon Hurry on Unsplash