During the reforming decades of the 1960s and 1970s a spate of legislation appeared in both the juvenile justice and general welfare fields in South Australia. Underlying the program of legislative reform was the laudable motive of achieving greater equity for all members of the community. It also reflected a commitment to the notion that legislation is an effective tool for engineering social change.

Yet the various legal and welfare initiatives of the period do not appear to have made the system more equitable in practice. In fact, legislative changes have done little to improve the position of young Aborigines before the criminal law in South Australia. Not only has Aboriginal involvement in the juvenile justice system actually increased since the early 1970s, but at each stage of that system, this group continues to be singled out for harsher treatment than other young people. This remains true, even when Aborigines are compared with other highly visible ethnic groups. Quite simply, it seems that the ideals of legislative reform have not been translated into practice for Aboriginal youth. This suggests that legislation may not necessarily be an effective tool for engineering social change. In fact, there is evidence to show that the more attempts made to improve the delivery of justice, the more disadvantaged young Aborigines become.

The real effects of legislative reform undertaken in South Australia during the 1960s and 1970s were for many youths, and Aborigines in particular, quite negative.