How music in youth detention can create new futures

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How music in youth detention can create new futures

The ACMF music program at Cobham Youth Justice Centre NSW. Credit: ACMF

Many young people in contact with the justice system come from

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of extreme ********, parental ****** or neglect, parental incarceration and disrupted education.

These

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often manifest as addictions to drugs or alcohol, mental health challenges, poor physical health and well-being, and conduct disorders.

How we can effectively respond to offending by these vulnerable young people ******** a

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.

“Tough on youth ******” approaches are notoriously ineffective: 85% of young people in Australia reoffend

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, and

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from the ******* Kingdom suggests periods of detention increase the frequency and severity of offending.

Innovative solutions are urgently needed to reduce youth offending in ways that prioritize the

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.

Music can provide incarcerated youth with opportunities to redefine themselves from young offenders to young artists with creative potential.

Music as an arena for change

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of international studies on music programs in youth detention centers found music can help young people to process trauma, build confidence, improve self-regulation, engage with learning, establish positive social relationships, and generate the hope needed to imagine new futures.

When we include music programs run for justice-engaged youth in community settings, researchers have identified

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benefits, including reductions in aggression and *********, a sense of cultural identity and belonging, and improvements in self confidence, trust and empathy.

The transformative potential of music is evident across musical styles and program approaches, from choirs to Javanese Gamelan groups to hip hop workshops.

However, my research suggests music programs need to be carefully designed and implemented to have lasting impact. Importantly, young people need to be given freedom to explore and express who they are and have opportunities to forge trusting relationships with peers and adults.

Music as a safe space

Music programs can alleviate the stressors of incarceration. The

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runs music programs in five youth detention centers around Australia, often through guitar or songwriting workshops.

Musicians shared that these programs were not only an escape, but could “change the atmosphere” from a very intense environment in which youth are often wary and tense to one where they can dream and play.

One musician said, “[There is a big] difference in the kids’ reactions and their interactions between the guards who are responsible for saying ‘get in your cell now, we’re locking the doors,” and musicians.”

Bringing together all of the senses to learn a complex skill, such as playing guitar, means “kids are forgetting about everything that happened yesterday and not thinking about everything that might happen later. They’re thinking about what’s happening right now, so that already is a game changer.”

Not a classroom

Musicians Scott “

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” Griffiths and

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of

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emphasize, their program is not a classroom and they are not teachers.

Taking place at

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in Western Australia, Griffiths describes Banksia Beats as “simulating how a healthy community should be.”

Youth can participate to whatever extent they feel comfortable. This might involve writing rhymes, laying down beats, rapping, adjusting the microphone, holding a notebook for someone, providing feedback or ideas for others, or simply listening.

In this way, young people can develop trusting relationships and learn from each other as much as they do their facilitators.

Music as creative guidance

Particularly when incarcerated young people have little control over their lives, having ownership over their own stories through music can be significant.

This is not always a comfortable process.

*********** Childrens’ Music Foundation founder

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noted, “It’s not ‘let’s all sing happy songs today.” Some of the songs that young people write are not happy songs, there’s no way you can make everything happy with what’s going on! But it’s the experience that we want to be positive. “

The opportunity to experiment through music can be seen as a way to “try on” new identities and ways of interacting with others.

Musicians described music as a form of self care, with youths often requesting to learn songs they had “listened to with their mum and dad”—an important source of comfort and hope in an otherwise

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This work demands that musicians build rapport and a safe environment for youth to share who they are, process their experiences, and imagine where they might belong. This can be challenging with young people who have been repeatedly let down by adults and society in general.

As Spencer says, “No matter what happens, you’ve got to be there next time. It’s not like young people can do whatever they want to us, but if there’s a conflict we say “Okay, that’s not right, I’d like you to think about it. I’ll see you next time, and we’ll try again.” “

Griffiths and Wepiha emphasized they “always validate” young peoples’ lyrics and

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, even if they initially seem problematic.

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·

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Rather than forbidding swearwords or certain topics, or having a more moralizing response, Banksia Beats uses such instances as opportunities to talk through the issues important to the young people themselves.

Music offers a non-confrontational way for musicians to guide the youths to reflect critically on their past experiences and understandings, and make positive decisions for their own futures.

Music as a right, not a reward

Musicians I have interviewed all agree that music programs should not be used to reward young people for good behavior, only to be taken away if they don’t comply. Framing music as a reward—rather than a right—has the potential to mitigate the transformative potentials of music programs by subsuming them within broader carceral systems of discipline and control.

Music programs should be an alternative, safe, creative space where everyone belongs.

Rather than an intervention to “fix” young people while they also navigate the stressors of detention, music might also be an

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. By reducing our overreliance on punitive responses to youth offending—which are

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at meeting the trauma-related and developmental needs of youth, we can imagine how such programs could change youth justice more broadly.

The question now is how we might make such programs available for the young people who need them the most. As one musician I interviewed asked, “how can music change the life of someone that isn’t given the opportunity?”

Provided by
The Conversation

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under a Creative Commons license. Read the

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Citation:
‘How a healthy community should be’: How music in youth detention can create new futures (2024, May 21)
retrieved 21 May 2024
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