Queensland youth crime push leads ‘in a race to the bottom’
Preventive action rather than reactive harsher penalties is the only way to reduce rates of youth crime, says National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds.
Queensland’s strong-arm approach to youth crime has left the state leading the “race to the bottom” and does not address the underlying issues, says a leading children’s rights campaigner.
National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds said early intervention rather than harsher penalties was the only evidenced-based way to quash youth crime rates, with a bipartisan approach required at a national level.
“This is not a party political issue; we’re failing in a number of jurisdictions,” Ms Hollonds said
“Queensland, frankly, is leading the race to the bottom at the moment, because all the things that are being proposed by the different political parties are not based on any evidence.
“What will it take for this to be, for these issues to be, made a national cabinet priority?”
Last weekend, Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli committed to introducing adult penalties for youths who committed serious crime, such as murder and home invasions, if the LNP were elected to power at the October state election.
The chair of Youth Advocacy Centre, Damien Atkinson KC, said the whole policy was “horribly unambitious” and set children who committed serious crimes up to fail later in life.
“They’ve lost all their social skills, they’ve lost their period of development that you would have had going to school and playing sport,” he said. “When they come out, they’ve also lost lots of connections.”
Many of the children who get caught up in the justice system face learning difficulties and are themselves victims of maltreatment at home, experiencing domestic and family and sexual violence.
“It’s truly shameful that we are locking up children who have these disabilities and complex needs,” Ms Hollonds said.
“The staff in these prisons are saying they’re not equipped to deal with this.
“Everyone agrees it’s the wrong approach.”
“These are very, very basic things that in some parts of Australia that kids are not getting, and we’re getting these negative behaviours as a result, which then escalate as the kids get older.”
Child and family services body PeakCare said harsher penalties would not necessarily reduce crime.
It did, however, welcome the LNP’s promised $175m investment in 12 months of support services after a young person’s release from detention.
Chief executive Tom Allsop called on the promise to be matched by Labor.
“Nothing is more important than breaking the cycle of reoffending and this can only be done through wrap-around supports for the young person and their families,” he said.
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