Hundreds of kids arrested in the first three weeks of Queensland’s tough youth crime laws

Hundreds of children have been arrested and charged in the first three weeks under harsh new youth crime laws in Queensland, as the state’s police commissioner warns young offenders are becoming increasingly violent.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli announces funding for Queensland’s Youth Crime Taskforce during a press conference in Brisbane on Monday.

More than 250 children have been arrested and charged in the first three weeks of the new Queensland government’s youth crime crackdown, as the state’s police commissioner warns young offenders are becoming increasingly violent.

The new Making Queensland Safer Laws, introduced in December, were the Liberal National Party’s central commitment during last year’s election campaign and mandate that juveniles who commit crimes such as murder, manslaughter and home invasions are sentenced as adults.

Despite the LNP’s “adult crime, adult time” policy having been put into law, Queensland Police Service commissioner Steve Gollschewski said youth crime rates had still not reduced since his appointment last April.

“The behaviour of some people has become quite concerning,” Mr Gollschewski said.

“What we’ve seen in recent times, is more violent … and groups of kids repeating more violent offences, more often.”

Queensland Police Service Commissioner Steve Gollschewski. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen / Courier Mail

Labor Treasury spokeswoman Shannon Fentiman. Picture: Richard Walker

On Monday, Mr Gollschewski reported hundreds of arrests and charges had been laid since the new laws came into effect.

“I can tell you that since they came in, we’ve arrested 430 adults on 758 charges, and 227 young people on 484 charges,” he said.

“So we’re very active in that space, and we’re confident if we keep that up, and the rest of the system does its bit, including the courts, that we’ll see a change. That’s all we’re focused on.”

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli, alongside Police Minister Dan Purdie and Mr Gollschewski, announced on Monday that the state government would invest $15.45m in Queensland’s Youth Crime Taskforce over the next four years as part of their crackdown.

Mr Crisafulli said the new funding would ensure the taskforce was permanent.

“For Queensland to successfully unravel a generation of youth crime, we need permanent laws and a permanent policing presence,” he said.

Labor Treasury spokeswoman Shannon Fentiman said Mr Crisafulli should “stop taking credit for the things that Labor has already done”.

Ms Fentiman said the taskforce was made permanent last year, with funding drawn from the overall police budget.

“We had funded this permanently and made the taskforce permanent, so I don’t know why David Crisafulli thinks he’s now suddenly, somehow come to the rescue,” she said.

Criticising Mr Crisafulli’s youth justice crackdown as “cheap slogans and politicking claims”, criminal defence lawyer Bill Potts argued the government should be focused on the causes of crime rather than on locking up young offenders.

“In the absence of dealing with those causes of crime and saying exactly how this money will be spent, this is just so much beating of hairy chests,” Mr Potts said.

He said “throwing money at a problem via a taskforce may well give the impression of action, but without the substance of action”.

“We often have the equivalent of a three-card trick in politics,” he said.

“[Politicians] announce a problem, they point fingers at a problem, announce the solution, and then, within a short period of time, announce that they had a “win in the war against crime”. “Nothing could be further from the truth.

“We cannot jail our way out of problems.”