Juvenile reoffending rates paint grim picture of youth crime ‘crisis’
It’s a shocking statistic: One Queensland town has a 100 per cent rate of reoffending of children placed on a strict bail program, as the state government is accused of failing our kids. SEE LIST OF YOUTH REOFFENDING STATISTICS
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Young criminals entrenched in the youth justice system are likely to reoffend, sparking calls for an overhaul of programs.
The alarming figures paint a grim picture of the programs being run by the state government to turn around the lives of young offenders, with one town in Queensland seeing a 100 per cent rate of reoffending of children placed on a strict bail program.
A North Queensland politician said the government had “nowhere to hide,” as he urged Labor to make urgent changes to the youth justice system.
The figures were released in answers to questions on notice from the opposition about reoffending from Toowoomba to Townsville.
The answers from Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard come after the government refuses to release Bob Atkinson’s review of youth bail legislation changes made last year in wake of the death of expectant Brisbane parents Matthew Field and Kate Leadbetter, and their unborn son, who were hit and killed by a juvenile in a stolen car.
One answer by the state revealed that all 20 children placed on a strict bail program in Toowoomba in 2021 went on to reoffend within a year of completing the program.
The results mirrored the data from the previous year, which showed all 17 children on conditional bail reoffended.
Children who completed restorative justice programs also reoffended more last year, compared to the previous year, resulting in a 64 per cent reoffending rate.
Another dataset showed 95 per cent of juvenile detainees at Townsville’s Cleveland Youth Detention Centre went on to commit more crime after release.
The state government have previously said that 10 per cent of all youth offenders are committing majority of the crime across the state.
Katter’s Australia Party MP Nick Dametto said the alarming statistics should trigger an “emergency response” from the government.
“These latest figures give the minister nowhere to hide,” Mr Dametto said.
“We’ve hit crisis point and everything should be on the table for discussion.”
Amnesty Indigenous rights campaign lead Maggie Munn said detention was an “inadequate” form of support for children and didn’t address root causes of the problems.
“We know that kids who come into contact with the criminal justice system under the age of 14 are three times more likely to re-enter the system,” they said.
Opposition police spokesman Dale Last said the new information painted a grim picture of juvenile crime, and the victims, but the Department of Youth Justice said the right measures were in place.
“The Youth Justice Minister recently said that ‘we need strong and accountable systems to hold young people to account’,” Mr Last said.
“Clearly, we do not have that and the question that the Labor state government needs to answer is ‘why?’.”
A Department of Youth Justice spokeswoman acknowledged the department had “recognised that more work needs to be done”.
“Evidence tells us there are clear connections between youth crime and childhood trauma, family violence, drug and alcohol abuse, untreated mental-health issues and inconsistent schooling,” the spokeswoman said.
“For these reasons, we have boosted our investment in a wide range of rehabilitation and intervention programs, including restorative justice conferencing, behaviour management programs and alternative education and vocational training.”
The Atkinson report, which has yet to be made public, has already seen changes across the state, including tightening bail laws, creating a presumption against bail and introducing a GPS tracker trial on select juvenile offenders.
A dedicated Youth Justice Taskforce was also set up, with Assistant Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon at the helm, to work more intensively on the issues.
Statewide reoffending statistics taken from recent questions on notice:
76 per cent of young offenders have been charged with another offence within a year in 2021
95 per cent of detainees at Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville reoffended after release in 2021
100 per cent of juvenile offenders on strict bail orders in Toowoomba reoffended within 12 months in 2021
100 per cent of juvenile offenders on strict bail orders in Toowoomba offended within 12 months in 2020
83 per cent of juvenile offenders on strict bail orders in Toowoomba offended within 12 months in 2019
64 per cent of juvenile offenders who completed restorative justice in Toowoomba reoffended within 12 months in 2021
63 per cent of juvenile offenders who completed restorative justice in Toowoomba reoffended within 12 months in 2020
59 per cent of juvenile offenders who completed restorative justice in Toowoomba reoffended within 12 months in 2019
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