Attempted murder, rape made adult offence for Queensland youth offenders

Youth offenders charged with attempted murder and rape in Queensland will face harsher penalties in a broadening of the state’s flagship ‘adult crime, adult time’ laws.

Premier David Crisafulli with Attorney-General Deb Frecklington and Minister for Youth Justice Laura Gerbe. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

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Youth offenders charged with attempted murder and rape in Queensland will face harsher penalties in a broadening of the state government’s flagship “adult crime, adult time” laws.

A panel of legal experts tasked with strengthening the Liberal National Party government’s Making Queensland Safer laws has recommended tougher sentencing of juveniles charged with more than a dozen extra offences, including arson, torture, aggravated attempted robbery, rape and attempted murder.

The amendments will be ­tabled in parliament this week.

Youth Justice and Victim Support Minister Laura Gerber would not say what the other charges to be included in the “next wave” of change were ahead of Monday’s cabinet meeting.

“We’re flagging this five … because ultimately the panel has considered these a serious harm and we’re flagging them today, but the bill will be introduced this week and you’ll get to see the full list then,” Ms Gerber said.

The first tranche of the laws came into effect in December, and mandated that juveniles who committed crimes such as murder, manslaughter and home invasions were sentenced as adults.

It followed Premier David Crisafulli’s pledge at last year's state election to address the youth crime crisis and bring down the number of victims across the state.

The expert legal panel, led by April Freeman, was established after a 63-year-old supermarket worker was almost killed when she was stabbed in the back with a large knife by a 13-year-old while stacking shelves at Ipswich, south of Brisbane, in January. Many community members were outraged that the boy’s charge of attempted murder was not included in the legislation.

When asked why these serious crimes weren’t included four months ago, Ms Gerber said the state government did exactly what it pledged to do at the state election. “We always promised there would need to be further changes and further (offences) will be added,” she said.

“When we took those five categories of offending during the election campaign, we got the exact same questions: Why isn’t this included? Why isn’t that included? Well, that’s why we have an expert legal panel to provide us with that advice.”

Under proposed changes, a child charged with attempted murder, rape and arson could face life imprisonment, while torture and aggravated attempted robbery would carry a maximum of 14 years.

The changes will not be retrospective, and the judiciary will decide the sentence severity.

Mr Crisafulli said there had been a “small downturn” in the number of some offences covered by the laws.

“We’re a million miles from where we need to be yet … because it’s been 10 years of one-way traffic the other direction,” he said. “It will take time, but every change will be about making things a little stronger and a little safer.”