Cairns crime: bail denied for more youth offenders under new laws, say Cairns police
Cairns Police have successfully challenged bail conditions for young offenders since the Youth Justice Act was tightened in a crackdown on juvenile crime in February.
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CAIRNS Police have successfully challenged bail conditions for young offenders since the Youth Justice Act was tightened in a crackdown on juvenile crime in February.
The new laws created a presumption against bail for youth offenders arrested for serious offences including breaking and entering
Cairns Police Acting Chief Superintendent Chris Hodgman said the Far North had clocked up some successes with recidivist youth offenders kept in custody.
“We have some great success in regards to bail and actually objecting and also putting revocations of bail before the court,” Superintendent Hodgman said.
“Those successes have been unique to Cairns, there’s six or seven and we’ve said that person should not have gotten bail, and then they’ve been kept in, since the bail changes came in.”
Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard said changes to the Act were aimed at serious repeat youth offenders.
Young offenders facing serious charges must show cause why bail should be granted.
Committing an offence while on bail is an aggravating factor for sentencing purposes.
And she said there was a trial of powers for police to stop a person and use a handheld scanner and scan for knives on the Gold Coast.
She said a review by former Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson into how well the reforms were working would be submitted early next year.
“Early indications show that since the introduction of a presumption against bail for serious repeat offenders, more of these offenders are being held in custody and for longer periods of time,” Ms Linard said.
When the changes were announced, Police Minister Mark Ryan said 10 per cent of all youth offenders accounted for close to 50 per cent of all youth crime.
The reforms were announced following a widespread public outcry after the tragic deaths of expectant parents Matthew Field and Kate Leadbetter in Brisbane, and the death of Jennifer Board in Townsville.
Mr Field and Ms Leadbetter, who was pregnant with their son Miles, were walking their dog in a bayside suburb when they were hit and killed by a car that allegedly ran a red light before crashing into a truck and rolling on them.
A 17-year-old boy faces multiple charges over their deaths.
Jennifer Board was killed when her motorbike was hit by a car that veered onto the wrong side of the road on February 5.
Police have alleged the vehicle that hit Ms Board had been chasing a stolen car through the streets before it lost control.
Two 18-year-old men, a 17-year-old girl and a 25-year-old man face charges over the incident.
All of the four deaths involved repeat offenders who had been released on bail.
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Originally published as Cairns crime: bail denied for more youth offenders under new laws, say Cairns police
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