Finding into death of Solomone Kitione Charlie Taufe'ulungaki

Contributing factors

• Youth gang violence and gang-related conflict
• Socio-economic disadvantage and marginalisation
• Limited social inclusion and opportunities for at-risk youth
• Weapon availability and carrying among youth in disadvantaged communities
• Insufficient coordination between police, justice and community responses

Coroner's recommendations

1. Continue collaboration between Victorian Government, Victoria Police, Youth Justice and community groups to ensure criminal justice responses to youth knife crime are coordinated and aligned with evidence-based community initiatives
2. Ensure that criminal justice responses do not counter-productive to community prevention initiatives
3. Avoid sole reliance on law-and-order responses which risk further criminalising already marginalised groups of young people
4. Prioritise whole-of-community approaches addressing root causes of youth knife crime including social cohesion, inclusion and early intervention
5. Ensure young people, particularly multicultural children and youth, are not marginalised and have equal educational and vocational opportunities
6. Recognise and nurture positive contributions of young people from migrant communities to broader Victorian community
7. Continue development and implementation of initiatives that address socio-economic drivers of youth gang involvement and knife crime