Explained: How Qld has toughened its stance on young crims

The youth justice reforms announced this week are not the first time the Palaszczuk government has pledged to strengthen laws targeting young criminals.

The youth justice reforms announced on Thursday are not the first time the Palaszczuk government has pledged to strengthen laws targeting young criminals.

Just last year the government boasted of passing a suite of reforms “that will target hard-core recidivist offenders” – along with a $98.4m funding package. A key initiative of those reforms was the highly touted introduction of GPS monitoring devices for high-risk, repeat offenders.

At the time, Police Minister Mark Ryan said “courts will be able to order 16 to 17-year-olds to wear GPS devices if they are given bail, providing an extra layer of security and increased safety for the community.”

“The devices will be monitored around the clock by Queensland Corrective Services who have extensive experience with this technology.”

However, 18 months on and the devices have only been fitted to about eight youths – and not the high-risk offenders initially set to be targeted.

While also facing community pressure on the issue in 2020, the government released a five-point action plan to “crack down” on youth crime.

One was “tougher action on bail”, which led to the creation of the presumption against bail legislation – which appears to have been more successful than electronic monitoring.

In his review released last month, former Queensland Police commissioner Bob Atkinson reported the legislation was “achieving what was intended” – that “young people at high risk ... should be remanded in custody”.

In 2021, anti-hooning laws were strengthened and enhanced powers given for police to use metal detecting wands to target knife crime on the Gold Coast – in a trial now extended. Other points included a 24/7 police strike team involving youth justice workers for high-risk offenders, and culture-based rehabilitation for indigenous offenders.

A year earlier, the government passed a $550m youth justice reform agenda focused on “helping young people stay out of detention”.