Qld’s youth crime crackdown expands to include rape, torture

Twenty more serious charges, including attempted murder, will fall under the Queensland government’s tough youth crime laws.

Bodycam footage of the Logan Crime Reduction Unit targeting youth offenders in a property crime blitz. Picture: Queensland Police

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Twenty more serious charges, including attempted murder, torture and rape, will fall under the Queensland government’s tough youth crime laws under proposed amendments put before the parliament on Tuesday.

The “second tranche” changes to the Liberal-National Party government’s flagship Making Queensland Safer laws, which were passed into law last December, would see any juvenile charged with an offence under the legislation tried as an adult. Premier David Crisafulli has pledged to crack down on youth crime and reduce the number of victims throughout the state.

Mr Crisafulli said the changes – which would see a range of rape and attempted robbery charges added – were “strong and necessary” to ensure the community felt safe.

“The impacts of these offences are deep, long-lasting,” Mr Crisafulli said. “They often have serious consequences for victims.

“We must turn around 10 years of the former government weakening the system. Well, no more. No more will victims be put last on that consideration list.”

The additional charges add to the 13 serious offences included in the initial legislation, such as murder, manslaughter and home ­invasion.

Pressure was put on the government to expand the laws after a 13-year-old who was charged with attempted murder after he allegedly stabbed a 63-year-old supermarket worker in the back while she stacked shelves at Ipswich, south of Brisbane, was not captured under the act.

An expert legal panel, led by barrister April Freeman, was established following the incident and recommended the amendments.

Attempted murder and accessory to murder would be added to the legislation under the amendment, alongside torture, assault of a pregnant woman and harm to or the transmission of a serious disease to the unborn child, torture, kidnapping, kidnapping for ransom and deprivation of liberties.

Rape and related charges, such as attempt to commit rape, assault with intent to commit rape, sexual assault involving any part of the mouth and sexual assault while armed were also put forward under these changes. Other serious offences listed were ramming of police cars, trafficking dangerous drugs and arson.

Many of the changes carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, which would allow a magistrate to sentence a juvenile to a minimum of 15 years behind bars.

Mr Crisafulli said there had already been “early reductions” in the number of stolen cars, break-ins, robberies and woundings across the state between December and February compared to the year prior.

“It simply makes children … liable to the same maximum, minimum and mandatory penalties as adults,” Mr Crisafulli said.

LNP MP for Capalaba Russell Field, whose son, daughter-in-law and their unborn child were killed by a teenager in a stolen car on Australia Day 2021, said adult crime, adult time restored consequences for actions.

“My family lives with the loss … the injustice, the anger, the bitterness that is left when they have to watch these young defendant walk out of court with no remorse, no regret, no real concept of what they’ve done,” Mr Field said.

“It (Making Queensland Safer legislation) is a crystal clear message that these offences mean something to the people you are injuring and means something the community who have had their sense of safety shaken.”

Greens MP for Maiwar Michael Berkman said locking children up would only increase recidivism. “The evidence is that if you put children in prison, you’re likely to make them a lifelong offender,” Mr Berkamn said.

“But if you give them intensive support to build relationships of care and accountability in their community, you can break the cycle.”

Further amendments to the laws were flagged by the Premier.

Bipartisan support was given to a one-year extension of a trial to issue electronic monitoring devices for youth offenders.