Kylie Lang: We need to back this radical solution for teen criminals
Removing youth offenders from their dysfunctional home environments would straighten them out and reduce crime but civil libertarians would never allow it to happen, writes Kylie Lang. HAVE YOUR SAY
Kylie Lang
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The headline reads: Teen offenders removed from families.
The story reveals how, under a strict new government policy, children who repeatedly commit crimes and are identified as being from “enabling” homes can be placed in alternative care.
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It comes after years of public outcry over burgeoning youth crime and the failure of successive governments to go hard on the problem.
I’d like to tell you the article goes on to explain how this relocation will work, including support for nominated care providers – not to be confused with juvenile detention centres – and intensive counselling for offenders, but I’d be wasting my time.
It will never happen, no matter how many frustrated workers at the coalface of youth crime tell me taking kids from their damaging environment is the only way to straighten them out.
Civil libertarians would have a field day.
What about the families’ rights, what about the children’s rights, they would bleat.
Well, what about the rights of law-abiding people to feel safe in their homes?
The harsh reality is that nothing the government, police, courts or corrections system are doing is working.
It’s like throwing mud at a wall.
Queensland Police figures released this week show youth-dominated crime has soared to its highest level since the Palaszczuk government’s big-talking crackdown on juvenile offenders a year ago.
Break-ins, robberies, car thefts and stealing from vehicles, arson and property damage are all well up.
As for the new law the government did commit to – allowing teen offenders to be fitted with GPS trackers – it’s been a fizzer. Instead of targeting 400 hard-core criminals, as boasted, tracking anklets were fitted on only three.
Reoffenders continue to tear up neighbourhoods.
I was stung this week.
In a rare slip, I left my car in the driveway unlocked, which makes it my fault because in today’s world the onus is on owners to protect their property, and not on others to respect it.
My mind was elsewhere on Easter Monday afternoon as a friend arrived unexpectedly and I was so happy to see her.
Joy turned to a sickening ache when my dog alerted us to a stranger pilfering what he could from my car as his female accomplice idled by the kerb in an old blue sedan.
I raced out the front as she yelled, “S … t, someone’s here!”
My neighbour had spotted the pair and bolted across the street with superhero speed, giving chase as they sped off.
Police told me the couple hit several other cars after mine and were known to them. Of course they were.
Why? Because kids know the consequences are nil.
They might get a slap on the wrist from a magistrate; or sent back to “juvie” where, I’m told, they’re treated like long-lost friends and given plenty of perks.
Shadow Minister for Police & Corrective Services Dale Last wants parents to be held responsible.
“Section 258 of the Youth Justice Act is very clear,” Mr Last says. “A parent can be held as contributing to an offence committed by their child if they have not adequately supervised the child and they can be forced to pay compensation to victims of those crimes.”
Under this go-softly government, that’s another law that’s meaningless.
Mr Last also wants breach of bail to be made an offence to “get young offenders off the streets”.
The Member for Burdekin says this will allow police to intervene before kids breaching bail can commit further crime. If only it were that simple. This is a massive problem that demands community-wide solutions.
Gone are the days when police were universally respected, and a trip to court or a spell in the slammer were a blight on a family’s name.
In too many homes where acute dysfunction reigns, falling foul of the law is considered either no biggie or a badge of honour.
Removing teen offenders from enabling families will never sit well with civil libertarians but what headline-making ideas can they offer to kerb youth crime?
All we’re seeing so far are the “rights” of offenders being upheld at our expense.
Kylie Lang is associate editor of the Courier-Mail
Kylie.lang@news.com.au
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