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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children remanded in custody (interim submissionpage 93). However, Indigenous young people are still massively over-represented amongthose detained in police watchhouses in Queensland (Queensland Government finalsubmission page 59).One of the most promising changes in dealing with young offenders in Queenslandoriginated with the Yalga Binbi Institute and the Queensland Corrective ServicesCommission (QCSC). The Yalga Binbi Institute reported on problems facing Indigenouscommunities in maintaining law and order at the local level. To address the issue theInstitute recommended a community development approach whereby communities, clansand family groups identify what roles they could play in changing patterns of criminalbehaviour. The development of Aboriginal law was strongly supported as part ofdeveloping community justice mechanisms. Issues of law and order were to be addressedin a way that ‘the community understands is right and in accordance with its owncustoms, laws and understandings about justice’ (Adams and Bimrose 1995 page 37).Community justice groups have developed in Kowanyama, Palm Island andPormpuraaw. These groups are complex reflections of the communities they represent.For example, the Kowanyama Justice Council has eighteen members (nine men and ninewomen) representing the Kokoberra, Kokomnjena and Kunjen linguistic groups in thecommunity. It has been argued that the success of Kowanyama Justice Council isreflected in dramatic decreases in arrests for offences and a drop in the number ofchildren appearing before the local Children’s Court. Similar successes have beenclaimed for the Palm Island Elders Group (Adams and Bimrose 1995 pages 40-43).The use of Aboriginal Law is central to the Elders emphasis on making kids, teenagers and theirfamilies accountable for their actions. Elders ask kids involved in a dispute and their families tofront up to a meeting held in a local community hall ‘before his or her own people’. Each party isgiven a chance to explain their version of the incident. The Elders give their view of how thechild or the group of kids has behaved and then they ask the kids and families to respond. Thegroup considers whether the child’s actions are as a direct result of wider issues such asovercrowding, neglect or other conflicts at home and may recommend referrals and increasedsupport to the family. Sitting down and talking with the child’s parents and counselling is a vitalpart of the Elder’s work (Dodson 1996 page 56).The community justice groups have been commented upon favourably in a recentreport to ATSIC (Cunneen and McDonald 1997 pages 72-76). However, there is also realconcern in Queensland that the funding for local justice initiatives is not being handledadequately by the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and that thereare unnecessary restrictions.Any initiatives developed will need to fall within the confines of the existing State systems. Inparticular, it should be noted that justice groups have no statutory authority … Consequently,justice groups have no direct responsibility under the Program for punishing misbehaviour orcriminal offenders.