Report finds youth crime program less effective in Northern Queensland

A victim of crime says a program to divert young criminals away from the court system is a “waste of time” as a report finds its less effective in Northern Queensland than in other parts of the state.

A victim of crime has described a program to divert young criminals away from the court system and keep them out of jail as a “waste of time”.

Her comments follow the release of a government-commissioned report which found restorative justice conferences where young criminals come face-to-face with their victims were less effective in Northern Queensland than in other parts of the state.

Samantha Kingsley has had her Heatley takeaway store broken into almost a dozen times over past years.

Victim of crime Samantha Kingsley opted to take part in a restorative justice conference with one of the teenagers who broke into her shop. She described the program as a waste of time and was appalled at the child's attitude.

She opted to participate in a conference to help the one child change their life but said the their attitude left her frustrated and disillusioned.

“They asked me if I would be interested in doing restorative justice,” she said.

“I thought I would really like to help this kid because he was only young.

“He sat in there with his legs stretched out and his hands behind his head … they were coaching him throughout the whole thing.”

Mrs Kingsley said she felt Youth Justice staff were disrespectful and made the experience worse.

She would not do it again.

“It is a joke, a waste of taxpayer money,” she said.

“He didn’t want to be there, he was giving lip-service.”

Simmering tensions about youth crime in Townsville reached fever pitch in February last year when an innocent 22-year-old women was killed in a stolen car crash. Picture: Alix Sweeney

KPMG’s evaluation of the diversion program was released under Right to Information and reveals the conferences had an equal or larger effect in reducing recidivism when compared to sending kids to court, except in Northern Queensland.

The report found the impact of both court and conferencing in North Queensland was “slightly lower” than other areas.

Data shows that as prior offending magnitude increased, so too did the proportion of kids who reoffended.

The community has grappled with the youth crime crisis for year. A 13yo girl is placed under arrest linked to an alleged bottle shop robbery. Picture: Alix Sweeney

For those with high or extreme levels of previous offending, court appeared to be marginally more effective in lowering re-offence rates for Indigenous children.

But, for this group restorative justice had a greater impact at reducing the severity of their behaviour.

The report found the likelihood a child’s offending magnitude would reduce after a conference was 78 per cent.

“The effect of (restorative justice) on reducing the magnitude of offending for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people is greater than for court, meaning that, overall it is a more effective response for this group,” the report said.

“(Restorative Justice) was also found to encourage young people to take responsibility for their offending.

Police find and arrest two alleged juvenile offenders hiding in bushland south of Townsville near Cape Cleveland. Picture: Shae Beplate.

“It has reduced recidivism and helped repair harm to victims.”

Sending kids to conferences rather than to court was cheaper too with the savings estimated at more than $12,000 per child with additional savings per day in custody avoided.

James Cook University sociology and criminology expert Glenn Dawes was part of the team involved in the rollout of RJC and has convened a number of the conferences.

Mr Dawes said the conferences were “not the answer to everything” but worked to help stop some kids becoming repeat offenders.

In his experience Mr Dawes said the conferences were most effective for young people just dipping their toes into the youth justice system.

James Cook University sociology and criminology expert Glenn Dawes supports restorative justice and said it had obvious benefits diverting would-be recidivists away from a life of crime.

“It was enough to scare some kids and keep them out of the system and I think it was quite a powerful thing,” he said,

“I think the effects of the conferences were much more powerful on (first-time offenders) in terms of reducing recidivism rather than hardcore tertiary kids who basically didn’t give a shit.

“You can’t drag a kid to these things if they are not really remorseful and they are not really meaning what they say.”

Mr Dawes acknowledged the program’s success was limited by the sincerity of young offenders and the desire of both the children and their victims to participate.

“For some young people as they trot through the system and reappear again and again and again, I don’t think restorative justice has the effect it is supposed to have,” he said.

“It’s got to be getting to the people at the start.”

Originally published as Report finds youth crime program less effective in Northern Queensland