National rape crisis: Queensland teen’s at the forefront of sexual violence offences
New data reveals an alarming number of Queensland teenagers are committing rape and not being sentenced to detention orders as advocacy groups sound the alarm.
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A leading peak body and advocacy group says it is increasingly likely a young woman’s first sexual experience could involve sexual assault or rape, if the state government does not step in to curb the rapidly rising crime.
A 2024 Australian Bureau of Statistics report found police recorded an 11 per cent increase in sexual assault reports during 2022 which equated to 36,318 cases.
Queensland Sexual Assault Network chief executive Angela Lynch said the state and nation is in the midst of a sexual violence crisis as the number of cases is rising faster than all other criminal offences.
“Things are going to get worse,” Ms Lynch said.
“Are we comfortable that increasingly young women’s first sexual experience may well be a rape or sexual assault that will impact her for the rest of her life?
“That could be the reality for young women in this country (if nothing changes).
“We have to be willing to face this issue at all levels of society.”
Queensland men committing higher rates of sexual violence
Queensland men are also committing more acts of sex violence than their counterparts in other parts of the nation with north Queensland recording the highest rates of rape convictions according to the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council (QSAC).
QSAC found over the past 18 years 48.5 per cent of juvenile offenders found guilty of rape were sentenced to a jail term.
The report did not specify if that included time served on remand, but the average time term for juvenile rapists was 2.6 years, whereas for men it was a 6.5 year jail term.
QSAC found although 4.4 per cent of Queensland’s total offences were committed by a juvenile, 12.5 per cent of the state’s rape cases were committed by teenagers.
“Most sentenced rape cases involved young, predominantly male children in their teenage years and adults in their early twenties,” the report found.
“This is reflected in the most common age group… being 15 to 19 years.”
Despite teenage boys accounting for a high amount of the state’s rape cases, juveniles found guilty of the crime will not be subject to harsher penalties after the crime was not included in the Crisafulli Government’s first trenches of the Making Queensland Safe Laws.
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The Queensland Sexual Assault Network is calling on the state government to do more to address sexual violence, stating it was the criminal justice system’s most pressing issue due to the rise of offences which were becoming more violent.
The network of non-government services provides specialised counselling, support and sexual prevention programs in Queensland.
Ms Lynch said current sexual violence outcomes and legislation for men and teenager boys was not in line with community and survivor-victim expectations.
“We do have concerns that it doesn’t really take into account the impact… on victims of crime who obviously have to live with the impacts for the rest of their lives,” Ms Lynch said.
“The current sentencing isn’t reflective of that (trauma).”
After the Crisafulli government was elected in October, QSAN asked the state for a clear and robust 10-year plan to address the sexual violence crisis.
“These issues are not going away, they are getting worse, and every indicator is that it’s getting worse,” Ms Lynch said.
“We need a concerted effort to work with the government to better plan, invest appropriately, and early intervention.”
Ms Lynch said the rise in sexual offending could be attributed to a number of things, including predatory use of social media, boys accessing harmful pornography at an earlier age, and a lack of accountability in the criminal justice system.
“If someone thinks they can get away with it, they will,” she said.
“Part of the solution was to invest in early intervention of juveniles who might be showing signs of harmful sexual behaviours,” Ms Lynch said.
“There’s a dearth of programs that exist in the community for juveniles that are displaying harmful sexualised behaviour where services can make referrals (to).
“Unfortunately when you don’t have investment in those community agencies and services these problems manifest.”
The conviction rate of sexual violence in Australia is 1.7 per cent, Ms Lynch said historically speaking, when it came to the justice system’s response to sexual and gendered violence, the “voices of victim survivors and their human rights,” were not a priority.
“It’s a slow process of change because historically they are been silenced and sidelined,” she said.
“We should be addressing this, it should be a priority, and much more of a priority than it currently is,” she said.
Although rape and sexual violence are rising, the number of people coming forward is dropping.
A 2022 personal safety survey found only eight per cent of women reported their assault, down from 13 per cent in 2016.
Ms Lynch said she believed when it came to the justice system’s response to sexual and gendered violence, the voices of victim survivors and their human rights were “not a priority”.
“We should be addressing this, it should be a priority, and much more of a priority than it currently is,” she said.
‘Failing’ justice system
University of Southern Queensland Associate professor Andrew Hemming said he believed the youth justice criminal system is in disrepair, slanted in the favour of offenders rather than victims, and that sentencing outcomes are not in line with community standards.
Despite the state government receiving backlash for implementing harsher penalties for young offenders, the School of Law and Justice professor applauded the move.
“The Youth Justice Act is a get-out-of-free card it really needs to be completely rewritten not just for the crimes but the bail as well,” he said.
Professor Hemming said the LNP should be “cut some slack,” for not including rape and all violent offences in the first round of laws.
“Yes it is an admission in my view, but it is one that I imagine is going to be rectified,” he said.
“I would be very surprised if the working party didn’t recommend rape to be included.
“It is one of the most violent things a person can do to another.”
The professor said abhorrent cases like the “very disturbing” Toowoomba Region case where the teen was sentenced to 18 months with no conviction after pleading guilty to multiple counts of rape.
He said the sentence, which on its face did not align with common sense, came down to the discretion of the judge passing the sentence, noting the LNP weakened it for the crimes on its list.
”This woman has been damaged for the rest of her life and the person perpetrated it has got an 18 month sentence,” he said.
“The community is tired of the soft option.
“One of my big beefs… is discretion.
“What does it takes to basically say to judges and magistrates, you are being too soft? The only way the legislor can do it, is to take their digression away.
“Society has run out of patience.”
He said the government can’t be held responsible for the decision of judges, however there needed to be a degree of consistency in the new legislation.
“At the moment we are sort of in a halfway house where they have just come into office and made some very small amendments to a large piece of legislation,” he said.
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Originally published as National rape crisis: Queensland teen’s at the forefront of sexual violence offences
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