The Northern Territory has made a number of youth justice changes. 

The NT Government announced in recent days that it would end the use of spit hoods on young people in police custody.

More than five years after spit hoods were banned from youth prisons, Police Minister Kate Worden says the change for people in custody would be effective immediately.

“Remembering these are children, we remember that we had a royal commission, and we had all of those images of the use of them,” Ms Worden said. 

“We've done a lot of research around this.

“This hasn't been a quick knee-jerk reaction - we've been working with police around this.”

Ms Worden said police officers will wear personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect against spitting by children and teenagers in custody. 

The hoods may still be used on adults in police custody.

For them, police will be adopting a “more contemporary and safe version of the spit hood”, the police minister said. 

“We need more thought around the way that it's used for adults,” she said. 

“It's still a very low number, but we've decided that we would like some more information and to work through that.”

South Australia has banned spit hoods in all contexts, and their use has been limited in other states.

Spit hoods were used 27 times on children in police custody between 2018 and 2022, including on a 12-year-old child.

President of the Northern Territory Police Association, Paul McCue, says police had “very little consultation around what this means for our members, and what the processes will be”. 

“Being spat at is a vile, disgusting act,” Mr McCue told reporters. 

“Now, in the absence of an option for youth, we're yet to see what alternatives will be put in place.”

He said the changes risk creating a “work, health and safety issue”, and may cause police to have to use “alternate use of force options” to protect themselves.

“Use of force includes striking, take-downs [and] removing that individual to an alternate area until proper safety equipment can be used,” he said. 

“Those options already exist now so that's nothing new.”

Mr McCue said he does not know what a “safe” spit hood looks like.

“We're very keen to see what the alternate option is that they've landed on, but I'm not sure that's been decided yet,” he said. 

Also this week, the Northern Territory Government announced it will introduce reforms to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 years old and overhaul controversial mandatory sentencing policies for adults.

NT Attorney-General Chansey Paech is introducing legislation as part of a long-running national push to reduce the number of young people coming into contact with the criminal justice system. 

The change is still short of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child's recommendation for the minimum age of responsibility to be set at 14 years old.

Still, the move has been welcomed by peak bodies representing the territory's legal, community services and Indigenous organisations.

Mr Paech says the evidence is clear that putting 10 and 11 year olds in contact with the justice system does not deter further reoffending.

“In fact, it is more likely to increase behavioural problems and offending,” he said.

The NT Police and the Territory Families department has been instructed to refer children aged under 12 and their families to “intensive parenting programs”, while expanding various schemes and family support services.