Juvenile crime rises after Newman government cuts rehab program

The president of the Queensland children's court has urged the Newman government to re-instate a juvenile offenders' program it cut at the start of 2013.

With the latest statistics showing an increase in juvenile offenders, Judge Michael Shanahan criticised the government's decision to end the court-ordered Youth Justice Conference program.

Judge Michael Shanahan.

More than 1500 juveniles went through the program during the last six months of 2012, with offenders and their families meeting with victims and a police officer.

It had a 99 per cent satisfaction rate, according to the children's court annual report.

Judge Shanahan said the reason for the decision to abolish the Youth Justice Conference was “unclear” to him, and said the program had a “substantial rehabilitative impact on young offenders”.

“If the reason was financial, then any savings in the costs of administering the conferences would, in my view, be illusory,” he said in the 2012-13 Children's Court annual report.

Responding to questions from Fairfax Media, Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie did not answer a query about whether the government would consider re-instating the court-ordered program. However, he said Youth Justice Conference was still available through police.

In the annual report, Justice Shanahan said the program's demise would result in an increase in community-based supervision orders, which would be more costly and inflate the number of juveniles charged.

While police cautions dropped during 2012-13, charges laid against juveniles who appeared in court jumped from 21,535 to 26,186, an increase of 21.6 per cent.

However, the total number of offenders processed through the court system only rose by 10.1 per cent to 6,642. Of these, 85.8 per cent were found or pleaded guilty.

Of the charges laid against juveniles who appeared in court during 2012-13, nearly 30 per cent related to thefts, 20 per cent were for unlawful entry, and 5 per cent were alleged assaults.

Mr Bleijie said the statistics were “concerning but unfortunately not surprising”.

He said the government would introduce legislation into parliament to take a tough stance on offenders.

“It includes naming and shaming repeat offenders, making juvenile criminal histories available to adult courts and creating a new offence for breaching bail,” Mr Bleijie said.

“We know there is a small cohort of offenders who are committing more and more crimes, and more serious ones.”

As part of the state government's plan to crackdown on crime, two models of “boot camps” for juveniles were opened in January.

Judge Shanahan said an early intervention camp on the Gold Coast showed promising signs.

“Anecdotal feedback from the young people, their families and extended support networks including teachers, indicates that the majority of young participants have improved their outlook on life,” he said.

He didn't directly comment on the Cairns boot camp for young people who had been sentenced in court, but said studies had shown military-style camps did little to help repeat offenders.