Cairns shares evidence to Youth crime inquiry

A youth crime inquiry has heard evidence from frontline workers about a detention system that is at breaking point, understaffed, overcrowded, and spilling into watch-houses. This is what was heard.

Marissa Nona, Semara Jose, and Daniel Rosendale from Deadly Inspiring Youth Doing Good present during the public hearing. Youth Justice Reform Select Committee in Cairns, February 7, 2024.

A youth crime inquiry has heard evidence from frontline workers about a detention system that is at breaking point, understaffed, overcrowded, and spilling into watch-houses, leaving young offenders without access to rehabilitation and angrier upon release.

The Youth Justice Reform Select Committee held its Cairns public hearing on Wednesday, with workers, victims of crime and not-for-profit organisations presenting evidence to the panel of MPs.

Genevieve Sinclair, CEO of Youth Empowered Towards Independence, said in the past 10 weeks she had seen a detention system that cannot cope as more children are held in watch-houses for up to two weeks at a time.

“We are seeing numbers as high as 18 children in the Cairns watch-house and they are staying for up to two or three weeks,” she said.

Youth Justice Reform Select Committee in Cairns, February 7, 2024.

“We have double the young people in detention compared to a year ago and this stretches resources and workers to breaking point.”

Ms Sinclair said understaffing and high turnover in all sectors mean they can’t deliver for young people.

“The community then feels the impact when offenders come out again without any possibility of rehabilitation,” she said.

“They are worsened by the experiences they have gone through and come out the other end angrier.”

One issue raised was the inability of detainees on remand being able to access rehabilitation programs, who are then often released after being sentenced to time served without any form of rehabilitation.

Key among the evidence presented by many of the speakers was the need for more to be done in the early intervention space to prevent young people from ever becoming involved with the youth justice system.

Committee Secretary Dr Amanda Been and Chair Ms Sandy Bolton MP. Youth Justice Reform Select Committee in Cairns, February 7, 2024.

Mark Harbrow, co-founder of not-for-profit Harbrow Mentoring, said the process needed to begin now with children who are under the age of 10 so they do not go down the same path.

“We need to look long-term at that ten-year strategy,” he said.

“It takes a long time to build the relationships with these kids to understand their challenges and help them through them.”

Mr Harbrow’s programs such as the Fire Project have connected with 2828 young people, helping them remain engaged with the community.

He said they have had success with engaging young people who where struggling and at risk of becoming engaged with anti-social behaviour, but trying to engage those already within the justice system including those who return after detention was extremely difficult.

“A lot of them are far gone, they’ve experienced so much trauma they have become ruthless they are going to take a long time to begin the process of rehabilitation,” he said.

“These kids require intense one-on-one mentoring that requires manpower we do not have.”

Sharon Cavanagh-Luskin founder and CEO of Illuminate FNQ, an organisation calling for greater STEM funding for regional communities, said keeping children engaged and giving them quality education was key to keeping them engaged with school and community.

“We have schools that are underfunded, we don't have science teachers in community,” she said.

“We need to offer kids in the community all the same educational opportunity.”

Originally published as Cairns shares evidence to Youth crime inquiry