Dr Terry Goldsworthy says detention should no longer be a last resort for youth offenders

For the hard-core or recidivist youth offenders, detention should no longer be a last resort, writes Dr Terry Goldsworthy.

How many more must die to fix the youth justice system?

Queenslanders are rightly outraged at the deaths of two innocent bystanders last week, allegedly caused by a teenager driving a stolen car.

Last week’s events are a culmination of several factors that affect youth crime.

These factors include changes in youth offending, weak bail laws, a lack of housing for youths in detention, an explosion in stolen vehicles, the raising of the legal age of a child from 17 to 18 and a no-pursuit policy.

Why wouldn’t you steal a car when you know the police cannot chase you? The genesis of Queensland’s no-pursuit policy can be found in 2010 coronial recommendations on fatal accidents during police pursuits.

Dr Terry Goldsworthy. Picture: Richard Gosling

In Australia, each year there are more than 3000 police pursuits. Fewer than 1 per cent of those result in a fatal accident.

All police operations involve risks to the public and police. The circumstances in which pursuits are allowed are limited; only one of the four grounds for a pursuit allows for an offence such as a stolen vehicle.

In 2006, Queensland had 630 pursuits, in 2011, 286, and by 2017, just 100. The perception is that stealing a car in Queensland is a low-risk criminal enterprise. Then-police commiss­ioner Bob Atkinson warned the inquest there was a small group of youths who habitually steal cars, who were likely to vary their behaviour in response to changes to police policy. He was right, in 2019 a hard-core of 10 per cent of youth offenders committed 44 per cent of all proven offences against youth offenders.

A review by the Sentencing Advisory Council has shown the most common penalties for children and young people who stole vehicles were probation and community service.

We have incentivised criminals in Queensland to drive more dangerously when in a stolen vehicle, and the quicker you do it, the more likely are the police not to pursue you. Even when caught you get a slap on the wrist.

The current government removed the offence of breach of bail for a child. What lesson does it teach a young offender that you can continually get bail no matter how many times you breach it?

For the hard-core of recidivist youth offenders, detention should no longer be a last resort. It should be the first defence in protecting both the community and the offender themselves from further harm.

Dr Terry Goldsworthy is an Associate Professor in Criminology at Bond University