Youth advocate calls for more to be done to help at-risk youths before they turn to crime
The rate of serious youth crime in southeast Queensland is continuing to climb - a leading youth advocate has revealed what drives teens to commit murder, do drugs and steal cars.
Moreton
Don't miss out on the headlines from Moreton. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Abused, traumatised, neglected children, forced out onto the streets are turning to murder, stealing and drugs ‘because they have been let down their whole lives’, says a leading youth advocate.
Amy Mayes has dedicated 15 years to helping at-risk-youths through the Redcliffe Area Youth Space, north of Brisbane.
Mrs Mayes said youth crime would drop dramatically if more focus was put on keeping these kids safe, before they turned to crime.
“The youths who are committing these crimes have been subjected to years of trauma, abuse and neglect,” she said
“They have fallen through the cracks.
“They have been let down their whole lives.”
The stories of Jacob Hopkins and Angus Beaumont
Mrs Mayes said the tragic death of Jacob Hopkins in May 2019, was a perfect example of the system failing.
The 14-year-old Clontarf boy was a passenger in a stolen car along with his sister and three others aged 10-16.
REVEALED: The crimes our youth are committing in the suburbs
The car had been stolen from Mango Hill by a 10-year-old girl.
A 14-year-old Waterford West boy was driving.
He took the car, full of youths, on a high speed joy ride – eventually losing control, crashing into another car and then a traffic light pole at Rothwell.
Jacob died at the scene.
He was remembered as someone who would do anything for his family and friends.
Mrs Mayes said four of the six youths in the car were known by the team at RAYS.
“Ten-year-old kids from stable homes don’t go out and steal cars, they don't take drugs,” Mrs Mayes said.
She said the organisation had been supporting Jacob’s family for eight years, more than half of Jacob’s life.
They were working with his grandmother and had pleaded for years with the Department of Child Safety for more help.
After Jacob’s death it was revealed his father Peter Hopkins was in jail.
He had been sentenced in Brisbane Magistrates Court in December 2018 for six separate driving related offences, including multiple dangerous driving charges and one count of driving with a mid-range alcohol reading. Hopkins was sentenced to a total of 30 months in prison.
In March this year another Clontarf teen, Angus Beaumont, 15, was stabbed, in the carpark near RAYS.
Angus had been walking home from Maccas with friends on March 13, when he was stabbed.
He died in hospital a short time later.
Mrs Mayes said sadly the incident did not take her by surprise.
“The young man who committed the (alleged) stabbing, had been homeless and sleeping on the stage (outside RAYS),” Mrs Mayes said.
“He had suffered significant abuse and neglect. He grew up in a home where Domestic Violence was a regular occurrence. Nothing changed, it just got worse.
“We called the relevant departments.
“Nothing was done.”
RELATED STORY: ICE USE THE MAIN REASON MORETON KIDS PUT IN FOSTER CARE
The solution
Mrs Mayes said the key to reducing youth crime was understanding young people and offering them the correct help.
“We are in a low socio-economic area, we have the highest rate of Domestic and Family Violence per capita in the state,” she said.
“More beds in youth detention centres won’t fix this.
“Locking kids up for longer won’t change what is happening to them at home.”
Mrs Mayes said she was not against youth detention – she agreed there had to be consequences for their actions.
“But people have to understand what is happening to our young people,” she said.
“We fund the front end but not the back end.”
What RAYS is doing?
Redcliffe Area Youth Space offers a range of services and programs for at-risk youths.
Mrs Mayes said its one youth worker, through the Remand, Reduction, Response program, looked after 76 clients.
He works directly with the young people and their families.
The aim of this program and others such as the Youth Access Moreton Bay Initiative (YAMBI) is to help the youths re-engage with education, provide family support, counselling services, mentoring and court support.
Mrs Mayes said in the year prior to the introduction of this new program youth crime had increased 100 per cent.
“In the past 12 months the number of kids appearing in Children’s Court is the lowest it has been in a long time,” she said.
Statistics from Queensland Justice Department reflect this.
In 2018/19 624 children appeared in Caboolture Magistrates Court, 692 in Pine Rivers and 423 in Redcliffe.
This reduced to 374 at Caboolture in 2019/2020, 440 in Pine Rivers and 229 in Redcliffe.
Mrs Mayes said it proved the key to helping at-risk youths was addressing the underlying issues.