Experts weigh in on LNP ‘Adult Crime, Adult Time’ youth justice policy

The tough new sentencing regime may satisfy the public’s thirst for punitive justice, but criminology experts warn that it will only create a ticking time bomb for society.

Premier David introduced a bill to parliament that forces judges and magistrates to treat serious, repeat offenders as adults when determining their sentence. Picture: Richard Walker

The LNP’s tough new stance on youth crime has received mixed review from criminologists, with one warning it will only lead to a ticking time bomb for society to eventually deal with.

Leading the new Queensland Government’s changes is a removal of the provision stating detention should be a sentence of last resort for repeat, serious offenders.

Associate Professor Andrew Hemming from the University of Southern Queensland’s School of Law was in favour of the new harsher laws, and said the existing Youth Justice Act was a ‘get out of jail free’ card.

“The bill redresses the soft policing of teenagers and a dearth of serious consequences after committing serious offences that has created ‘a generation of untouchables’”, he said.

Under the proposed changes there will be increased maximum penalties for 13 serious offences including murder, manslaughter, unlawful striking causing death, grievous bodily harm, dangerous operation of a vehicle, robbery and burglary.

When passed, a juvenile convicted of murder will face a mandatory life sentence, with a non-parole period of 20 years.

Importantly, a new maximum will also apply to aggravated unlawful use of a motor vehicle which applies when a child is intoxicated while driving a stolen car or has two prior convictions for the same offence.

Prof Hemming said this means a lot more young people who steal cars will find themselves behind bars.

“The changes in the bill are far more than merely sending a message and will affect sentencing outcomes,” he said.

“They are making a child offender subject to the same penalties as an adult.”

Courts will be empowered to consider an offender’s full criminal history when sentencing and their criminal history as a juvenile available to the court when they are sentenced as an adult for a five-year period.

While the LNP made youth crime are core component of its election pitches, the party’s ‘crime crisis’ narrative is not reflected in the figures

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the total number of offences committed by young people has almost doubled over the past 10 year to 46,130 in 2023-24, but fewer teens are committing crime.

In 2008-09 the rate of people aged 10-17 committing offences in Queensland was 3575.8 per 100 000, by 2022-23 it had dropped to 1925..

The Northern Territory’s rate sits at 2819, New South Wales is at 2270 and Western Australia is at 2187.

Fellow UniSQ Criminologist Suzanne Reich said that despite having one of the lowest rates in Australia, Queensland is set to have the harshest sentencing regimes that will only serve to create more hardened criminals.

Dr Suzanne Reich said the LNP sentencing policy would not deter young people from committing offences.

“If a young person is given a maximum sentence of 10 years for stealing a car, by the time they are released they will have served most of the prison sentence in the adult system,” she said.

“During those really critical years of their development, the people raising these young adults will be other offenders who are also incarcerated for serious crime.

“How can we expect them to be released and live prosocial lives.”

Rather than jail more young people for longer, Prof Reich said the government should redirect money to early intervention.

“What the government is doing is making policy based on popular opinion that has very little grounding in the evidence,” she said.

“I understand that the broader community lives under the assumption that when you experience a punishment like prison, that consequence will be so unpleasant that it will stop you from offending later but for many of these children, detention is preferable to living at home or in the care of Child Safety.

“The new sentences will not deter them.”

“They are reacting to the situation they find themselves in, they may not have the right skills to stop and think of another way out.

“Most have grown up in families where multiple generations have been to jail so the only way they know how to respond to a situation is with crime.

“We need to interrupt that cycle and replace it with something new.”

Originally published as Experts weigh in on LNP ‘Adult Crime, Adult Time’ youth justice policy