Youth crime Qld: Half of our worst offenders still roaming the streets

Over half of Queensland’s most hardcore youth offenders are roaming free on the streets – but the minister says more young criminals are locked up than ever.

Over half of Queensland’s most hardcore youth offenders are roaming free on the streets – but the minister says more young criminals are locked up than ever.

The Courier-Mail can reveal that of the 482 youths classified as the state’s most serious repeat offenders, just 196 are in detention or on remand.

The hardcore cohort make up about 19 per cent of young offenders, but commit more than half of all youth crime.

Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer said the government was focused on community safety and tackling the root causes of crime.

“Initial analysis of the most recent (serious repeat offender) index data indicates that there has been a steadying or decline in the rate of reoffending by serious repeat offenders,” she said.

“There are now more serious repeat offenders in detention, and they are staying longer than ever before with Queensland having the highest number of young people in detention in the nation.”

Ms Farmer also said while the figures indicated more than 280 of the most serious young offenders were not in detention, they were often the subject of court orders such as probation, or conditional release orders after detention.

Bond University professor Terry Goldsworthy said when children were under serious repeat offender declarations, detention as a last resort no longer applied and community safety was meant to take priority. But the former police detective also said he wasn’t surprised by the figures.

Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer

“Twenty per cent of the (youth) offenders are (serious repeat offenders) and only 6 per cent of the people going to court are getting jail sentences,” he said.

“The whole system needs to be looked at. They’ve got no room to put them so that’s why the watchhouses are filling up.”

Opposition youth justice spokeswoman Laura Gerber said the “alarming” figures proved what Queenslanders already knew.

“Labor’s weak laws have allowed more of the most serious repeat hardcore youth offenders to remain on our streets,” she said.

“Steven Miles doesn’t take crime seriously and he’s not up to the job of tackling the youth crime crisis.”

Ms Gerber said should the LNP win office it would introduce new laws as the first order of business.

“We’ll remove Labor’s detention as a last resort policy and provide the strong laws Queenslanders are crying out for to make our community safe,” she said.

Children being held in watchhouses were not accessing proper education and short youth detention sentences led to children not being properly rehabilitated, Dr Goldsworthy said.

He also said the Children’s Court should be open to reporting for the most serious offenders.

“If they are declared as a serious offender in those matters should be open as a right,” Dr Goldsworthy said.

“We are not interested in hearing what happens to a 12-year-old shoplifter who goes to court, that’s not in the public interest really, but certainly serious repeat offenders.”