Matthew Morgan: Car-related apprenticeship proposed as fix for teen car crims

A leading criminologist behind a pilot program to rehabilitate car-thieving teens has said they might have found the answer to reducing youth car crime across the state.

Andrew Maddrell has owned Maddrell's Panel Beating and Spray Painting for 40 years, and over that time has employed 25 apprentices. He says that wayward youth that are committing crimes should be given the opportunity to learn a trade to help them with their behaviour issues. Picture: Brendan Radke

A leading criminologist behind a pilot program to rehabilitate car-thieving teens in North Queensland has said they might have found the answer to reducing youth car crime across the state.

Official police figures show 565 cars have been stolen in Cairns this year, and 41 cars stolen last month.

Dr Matthew Morgan, a lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the Australian Catholic University, who co-ran a six-week pilot program working closely with indigenous teenagers convicted of car theft, said researchers found the children were from disadvantaged backgrounds, often where entire families were homeless.

“They are looking for a thrill and an escape from their circumstances,” he said.

He said the program invited car theft victims to give talks to the group, as well as police officers who told the group about former colleagues who were first responders to joy-riding fatalities and had “never worked again” because of the distress the scene caused.

Dr Morgan said the real revelation of the program was when he asked participants about their dream job.

“It was always something involving cars or some kind of manual labour,” he said.

“They all expressed a fascination and even an obsession with cars … and they often have no legitimate opportunity to engage with cars or with driving.”

The $74,000 state government-funded six-week course conducted mainly in Townsville, featuring participants from across North Queensland, has just delivered its report back to the government and has asked for more funding to roll out more trials across the state.

Dr Matthew Morgan, Lecturer in Criminology at Australian Catholic University.

Dr Morgan said he saw a “breakthrough” occur when participants attended two-panel beating workshops where the teenagers worked on repairing cars – most of them damaged from joy-riding.

“That moment when we went to panelbeating workshops was really a significant moment,” Dr Morgan said.

“I saw their eyes light-up. They were like ‘wow, look at this, we get to use power tools’, we are painting cars, we are fixing stuff, we are doing cool stuff that we are never getting to do cool stuff that we have done before – and in the end a chance of doing this for a job.

“Many of these young people have never been given the opportunity to get some paid employment.”

Several of the participants were offered and accepted school apprenticeships through the businesses in the program.

The project’s report has asked the government for further funding to roll out more programs in more regional areas, but Dr Morgan said getting young offenders into panel beating or mechanic apprenticeships loomed as a possible solution to reducing car crime reoffending.

Andrew Maddrell owner of Maddrells Panel Beating and Spray Painting said he thought getting young car offenders into car-related apprenticeships was a great idea.

Andrew Maddrell has owned Maddrell's Panel Beating and Spray Painting for 40 years, and over that time has employed 25 apprentices. He says that wayward youth that are committing crimes should be given the opportunity to learn a trade to help them with their behaviour issues. Picture: Brendan Radke

“Certainly, it would give them a sense of direction that might be lacking” he said.

“Panel beating is a lot of hard work and I often find it difficult getting young people who are willing to do the hard work involved. If someone is willing to work hard and has the right attitude then I would certainly take them on board.”

Lance Seccombe from Right Price Car Rentals and Right Price Paint Panel agreed.

“They steal because they are bored. I believe they need some sense of purpose. Something to care about and some job satisfaction,” Mr Seccombe said.

Asked whether he would take on a young person who had been convicted of car theft, Mr. Seccombe said: “Probably, if they had the right attitude.”

“I would take it on a case-by-case basis. Most people just need to be given a go.”

Cairns suffered through a record 1299 vehicle thefts in 2022, averaging 3.55 cars per day. In June, News Corp reported morethan 55 cars were being stolen from hardworking Queenslanders every day.

The number of car thefts across Queensland hit a 10-year high just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, with some regions recordingthe highest number of car thefts on record at the beginning of 2020.

But in December last year and the beginning of this year, car thefts surpassed the pre-Covid-19 record in most regions acrossthe state, but have slowly decreased since then.

Originally published as Matthew Morgan: Car-related apprenticeship proposed as fix for teen car crims