MrChuol Puot

Chuol G. Puot is a Principal Policy Advisor at the Department of Justice and Community Safety (DJCS) and a PhD candidate at Deakin University, where his research explores desistance among justice-involved African Australian young people.

He brings extensive expertise across high-level policy and frontline practice in Victoria’s youth justice system. Beginning his career as a Youth Justice Case Manager, he has held key roles including Children’s Court Youth Diversion Coordinator, Community Engagement Officer, Senior Practice Advisor, where he provided expert consultations on bail, parole planning, and sentencing. As a Manager of Multicultural Strategy, Policy, and Practice, he led the development of Victoria’s first Youth Justice Multicultural Strategic Action Plan.

His expertise and commitment to justice equity are demonstrated by his appointments to the Victorian Anti-Racism Taskforce in 2021 and his role as the DJCS representative on the Youth Parole Board since 2022. His honours include the prestigious 2025 Churchill Fellowship to explore how African restorative justice practices can inform a diversionary approach in Australia, the 2020 Victoria Police Community Exemplary Award, and the 2019 Dr Larry Osborne Scholarship.

He holds a Master of Criminology from the University of Melbourne, and a Bachelor of Arts (Criminology) and a Bachelor of Social Work from Monash University.This recent article Do ‘African Gangs’ Exist in Melbourne? The African Australian Narrative, illuminates his work.