Terry Goldsworthy: No surprise Qld youth crime has reached this latest dark point

Our social fabric is under siege, with youth crime accounting for more than 50 per cent of break and enters, robberies and car thefts. But the path to the current situation began many years ago, writes criminologist Terry Goldsworthy.

Our social fabric is under siege.

What kind of society do we want to live in? That is a question that is worth asking yourself given the events of the weekend. Over the weekend three women were killed and another critically injured, by a 13-year-old youth allegedly driving a stolen car. They were merely going about their daily lives.

We should not be surprised. When the latest Queensland Crime Report was released weeks ago, we learnt that the overall crime rate had risen more than 7 per cent, property crime had gone up 12 per cent and personal crime a staggering 45 per cent. Little wonder our loved ones are being harmed.

There is currently a national campaign to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years of age. If that is implemented, then no-one would be held accountable for the deaths of these three women. That is simply not acceptable in a modern society. Yet the Queensland Attorney-General has in principle supported a proposal to increase the age of criminal responsibility.

A horrific car crash on Sunday night in Maryborough killed three women and left a fourth in critical condition. Right photo: 7 News.

When the Queensland Crime Report was made public the Police Minister’s office released a media statement highlighting that the “rate of youth offenders and the rate of adult offenders was the lowest on record”. However, the devil is in the detail. The media release didn’t tell us that as a proportion of overall offenders’ youth criminals had grown from 16.1 per cent to 18.4 per cent of all offenders in 2021-22.

Nor did it tell us that youth offenders accounted for more than 53 per cent of all break-and-enter offenders and 55 per cent of robbery offenders in Queensland – increases over the previous period. In relation to stolen vehicles, youth offenders accounted for more than 53 per cent of all offenders in Queensland.

Oakhurst’s Kelsie Davies died when a stolen vehicle, allegedly being driven by a 13-year-old Bundaberg boy, crashed into the back of the Holden she was a passenger in.

We also now know that serious repeat youth offenders make up 17 per cent of youth offenders, which is up from 10 per cent in 2020, and are responsible for 48 per cent of youth crime.

The path to the current situation began many years ago. In 2016, the Labor government removed the breach of bail offence for young people. It also said that a detention order for young people should only be used as a last option and for minimal time periods. In 2019, the current government made youth justice laws even worse by passing a law that would make it easier for more youth criminals to get bail.

Michale Chandler, pictured with her husband Matthew, was tragically killed in the crash in Maryborough.

As the Queensland youth crime epidemic has worsened, we have seen the government release a number of new strategies to deal with youth crime, yet few will have any impact. One positive is that it did after immense pressure reintroduce the breach of bail offence for youth offenders.

Yet at the same time the government introduced laws, now in place, that decriminalised the possession of hard-core drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, effectively giving the green light to drug traffickers in Queensland. Drug traffickers who actively target young people.

Fraser Coast nurse Sheree Robertson was tragically killed in the crash at Maryborough.

In the broader scope of societal values, under this government we have seen recommendations to remove the offences of public drunkenness, begging and public urination. We have seen the Queensland Attorney-General broadly supporting the recommendations of the Queensland Law Reform Commission which recommended making public solicitation for prostitution legal.

In my time as a detective, I saw first-hand the crime that this kind of public prostitution resulted in. And of course, the question is where is this public solicitation going to be allowed and in front of whose home?

The women killed on the weekend deserved a safe society to live in, one free from the threat of criminals who may do them harm. Their families, our society, are indeed entitled to ask how did we come to this point? But this is not the only question to be asked. We also need to ask what kind of society we want to live in and what kind of society are we and our government leaving for our children.

Dr Terry Goldsworthy is an Associate Professor of Criminology at Bond University

Originally published as Terry Goldsworthy: No surprise Qld youth crime has reached this latest dark point