Insider tells of teen crime

AN insider’s account of life as a rampaging teenage criminal paints a disturbing picture that should concern every Victorian.

A insider’s account of life as a rampaging teenage criminal paints a disturbing picture that should concern every Victorian.

It provides a valuable insight into why Apex and other gang members do what they do — and how.

Teenage boy lifts lid on Victoria’s violent youth gangs

The 16-year-old boy said his anti-social behaviour, which included car theft and aggravated burglaries on suburban homes, was fuelled by his lust for the spoils of the gangster culture he and his mates revere.

It has seen him jailed and bailed three times already this year — and chained to his bed by his parents in a desperate bid to stop him getting out and committing more crimes.

As revealed in the Herald Sun on Wednesday, he described youth prison as so soft it served as no deterrent, with basketball, personal training and Tim Tams on offer.

“It’s like school camp,” he said.

“You can just kick it with your friends, pretty much. Everyone has friends in there. You all know each other.”

His expose of his life as a teen gang member comes near the end of a year in which Victoria’s youth crime epidemic has spiralled out of control, with home invasions, carjackings and armed robberies just about an everyday occurrence.

Those who caused the damage at Parkville need to be in a tough jail where they are given a real insight into what life can be like if you are on the wrong side of the law.

It also comes on the day the Victorian Government is fighting for the right to house our most violent young offenders in an adult jail.

Lawyers acting for the government will on Wednesday argue in the Court of Appeal that it should not have to remove the youths it sent to Barwon Prison.

The government started transferring children to the maximum-security adult prison after a series of riots last month caused about $2 million damage and destroyed more than 60 beds at the Parkville youth justice centre.

Supreme Court Justice Gregory Garde last week ruled the jailing of the youths was illegal as their human rights had been breached. He ordered that the 15 youths still at Barwon be transferred. He agreed to a temporary stay on that order after being told there were no suitable youth facilities in Victoria to house them.

The Andrews Government — and large sections of the Victorian community — will be hoping the appeal results in the youths staying in Barwon for as long as is necessary.

Barwon Prison is no holiday camp and that is a good thing. Picture: Tony Gough

Such a decision will solve the short-term problem, but the pressure will still be on the government to come up with a long-term solution to ensure the youths, and youths like them, will never again be able to run riot and cause so much chaos.

If the government loses its appeal then it will be plunged into a crisis of unprecedented proportions.

The voting public will have every right to ask how the juvenile detention system in Victoria was allowed to sink to such a parlous state that it can’t stop those in the system destroying their facilities.

Those who caused the damage at Parkville need to be in a tough jail where they are given a real insight into what life can be like if you are on the wrong side of the law.

Barwon Prison is no holiday camp and that is a good thing.

Solicitor-General Richard Niall, QC, last week told the Supreme Court it could take between six and eight months to repair the damage the rioting inmates caused at Parkville.

The Herald Sun can see nothing wrong with keeping dangerous teen offenders in Barwon until then.

It is to be hoped the Australian Lawyers Alliance isn’t serious in its recent suggestion that the teens deemed by Justice Garde to have been illegally held in Barwon “may now have an entitlement for a claim for false imprisonment”.

The situation the youths find themselves in is of their own making. If Parkville hadn’t been trashed they wouldn’t be in Barwon.

It would be an insult to every law-abiding Australian if any of these thugs make money out of their riotous and disgraceful behaviour.

Some Victorian drivers are still drinking, speeding and, increasingly, taking drugs.

TAKE CARE ON THE ROADS

YOU would think there would be no need to use the headline on this editorial.

After all the warnings, all the graphic advertising and all the horrific deaths this year, you would think asking drivers to take care on the roads wouldn’t be necessary.

Sadly, recent tragedies reveal too many people behind the wheel and astride motorcycles still haven’t got the message.

They are still drinking, speeding and, increasingly, taking drugs.

A police operation recently found one in every 13 drivers tested positive for illegal drug use.

Six Victorian families are mourning the deaths of loved ones in festive season accidents as the state heads for its highest road toll in five years.

The Herald Sun has done what it can with its Tackle the Toll campaign.

Successive state governments have ploughed money into improving roads, as well as introducing tougher penalties for driving offences.

Police are also doing their bit, with a massive blitz now under way to try to keep the toll down. But, ultimately, drivers and riders have to take responsibility for their actions..

So here it is again: TAKE CARE ON THE ROADS.