source: Aljazeera News
published: 2 December 2019
Melbourne, Australia – Vickie Roach was 12 the first time she was imprisoned.
Forty-eight years ago, in the early 1970s, she was arrested after running away from abusive foster homes and institutions.
“The morning after you arrive, you have to go see the doctor. They would examine you to see if you were pregnant or had STDs. And if you weren’t cooperative they would hold you down and do it,” said Roach, now 60.
For a young girl who had been sexually abused, this procedure was “traumatic”. But her contact with the criminal justice system in Australia began even earlier – when she was two.