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New crime data revealed as LNP prepares ‘Adult time, adult crime’ legislation

New data shows youth crime jumped more than 10 per cent last financial year, as the state government gets set to push its ‘adult crime, adult time’ legislation through parliament this week.

Former premier Steven Miles at a Police Beat in Townsville during the election campaign. Picture: Adam Head
Former premier Steven Miles at a Police Beat in Townsville during the election campaign. Picture: Adam Head

Alarming new data shows youth crime jumped more than 10 per cent last financial year, as the Crisafulli government gets set to push its signature “adult crime, adult time” legislation through parliament this week.

The LNP government will use the figures to argue Queenslanders were kept in the dark on the full extent of the youth crime issue in the lead-up to October’s election.

The statistics were obtained as part of the government’s incoming briefs and revealed youth crime jumped 12 per cent in 2023/24 compared to the previous year.

The number of proven offences committed by young people rose from 41,155 in 2022/23 to 46,130 in 2023/24.

Children were also committing more crime on average at 14.1 offences per young person in 2023/24, up from 12.5 per youth in 2022/23.

The data also showed Queensland was on track for its worst year since at least the start of Covid-19 for car thefts by teens.

In 2020 young people aged 10 to 17 were found guilty of 3142 illegal use of motor vehicle charges. This jumped to 5063 charges in 2021 before skyrocketing to 7087 in 2023.

Queensland’s Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber. Picture: David Clark
Queensland’s Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber. Picture: David Clark

In the first six months of 2024 there had already been 6814 charges of illegal use of a motor vehicle finalised by a court.

Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber said the data was “another example of the desperate attempts from the previous Labor government to hide the truth from Queenslanders”.

“Queenslanders knew they couldn’t trust Labor to be tough on crime, which is why they backed the Crisafulli government’s plan to deliver ­action.

“The Making Queensland Safer Laws will restore safety where you live and – as promised – ‘adult crime, adult time’ will be legislation by Christmas.”

In July when the then-state government released the crime statistics for the 2023/24 financial year they were sold as showing a “reduction in the rate of youth offences” and a 2 per cent fall in the number of unique young offenders.

During the election campaign then-premier Steven Miles used his first campaign pit stop in Townsville to spruik a program Labor declared was cutting the state’s cohort of serious young offenders.

There had been 497 serious repeat offenders in October 2023 and, according to the Department of Youth Justice, this had dipped to 405 in July 2024.

Premier David Crisafulli, during the election, staked his leadership on driving down the number of crime victims in the state. He went as far as vowing not to seek a second term in 2028 if he failed to do so.

Australian Bureau of Statistics annual crime victim numbers showed there were 289,657 victims in Queensland in 2023 – or 52.4 per 1000 people.

This is an increase from 33 victims per 1000 Queenslanders in 2016 – with the current figures driven by an increase in car theft, break-ins and a doubling of sexual assaults.

Read related topics:Youth Crime

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Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/qld-politics/new-crime-data-revealed-as-lnp-prepares-adult-time-adult-crime-legislation/news-story/9cfe88bb282cbd75fef95710dc8e13a6