Tough new youth bail laws ‘a bandaid solution’

Fears raised for Mackay and Whitsunday juveniles … ‘The reality is that kids don’t thrive in jail’

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TOUGHER youth justice laws designed to keep high risk kids behind bars have been labelled a "bandaid solution" rather than a strong stance against juvenile crime.

Youth Justice Act amendments, which came into effect yesterday, grant police and the courts more powers to refuse bail for repeat child offenders deemed a danger to Mackay and Whitsunday communities.

Now if a child is regarded by the court as an unacceptable risk to the community or the safety and welfare of the person, he or she must be kept in custody.

But legal expert and former Queensland Law Society president Bill Potts said he did not expect there to be a "big boom" in the number of children in custody.

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He said children's court magistrates would now closely examine whether there was "any significant justification" in keeping kids in custody.

"It's a bandaid solution to defeat the problem," Mr Potts said.

"The reality is that kids don't thrive in jail.

"What happens is it's essentially a means by which they are sometimes brutalised and, more often than not, criminalised further because they've often separated from their families.

"If we don't treat the causes of their criminal behaviour, we're simply dooming people to a life of crime."

Under the new laws, which are part of the state's five-point plan to tackle "hardcore" youth offenders, police also have more powers to keep children in custody for longer before any court mention.

"While there's been a legislative change, the emphasis still remains on trying to ensure that kids are kept within their families (and) within their society," Mr Potts said.

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"The only type of legislation that should exist is that which is evidence based.

"Ultimately the real discretion should always lie with the courts."

Mr Potts said there was also a nationwide push to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years old.

"No 10 year old decides they want to be a criminal, they become criminalised because of poverty, because of mental illness, because of lack of parenting," he said.

When the changes were announced last month Child Safety Minister Di Farmer said, "These laws leave no doubt community safety comes first.

"It's a significant change aimed squarely at repeat and prolific young offenders."

Dawson MP George Christensen said juvenile crime had been the number one issue in Townsville for five years "and a growing issue in Mackay for quite a while" hitting out at the change "a few months out from a state election".

"While it might be welcome it's probably too little, too late," Mr Christensen said.

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