Premier makes overdue pledge to toughen youth crime rape laws
After months of uncertainty, responsibility shifting, and pussyfooting, the Queensland Government has pledged to legislate harsher penalties for juvenile offenders convicted of rape.
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This week the Crisafulli government will table a bill before the Queensland parliament to include rape in the next tranche of “adult crime, adult time” youth justice law reforms.
At a press conference on Sunday, March 30, the state government announced the offence of rape would be one of five offences added to the Making Queensland Safer Laws.
The other offences announced were attempted murder, torture, arson, and aggravated attempted of robbery.
When the first raft of changes were made to the Youth Justice Act on December 2024, off the back of the state election, the Crisafulli government strengthened the sentencing regime for 13 offences.
The confirmation of impending changes add rape to the laws follow months of The Chronicle and several other Queensland mastheads calling for guilty youth rapists to face tougher sentences as part of editorial series Fight For The Forgotten.
The campaign launched in January and highlighted that when teenage rapists are sentenced in Queensland, they receive a jail term of 2.6 years on average.
A poll of 500 Queensland women conducted by the mastheads in January found that more than 99 per cent of women want to see the Queensland government bring in harsher sentences for juveniles found guilty of rape and to be made a priority over car theft.
At the press conference on Sunday, Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber said the government had yet to announce a further seven offences that would be included in the April bill.
“The Bill will be introduced this week and you’ll get to see the full list then,” Ms Gerber said.
“We have a Cabinet meeting (Monday) but these are the offences that we’re signposting today that will be included in adult crime, adult time,” she said.
“For attempted murder, youth will now face a maximum of life imprisonment.
“For rape, life imprisonment.
“For torture, a new maximum [penalty] of 14 years’ imprisonment.
“For aggravated attempted robbery, 14 years’ imprisonment.
“For arson, a youth will face a maximum of life in prison.”
The government was scrutinised by the glaring omissions of rape and attempted murder in the first wave of youth justice law reforms following a number of high profile crimes rocked a number of communities across the state.
The ‘adult crime, adult time,’ laws rushed through in December coincided with the sentencing of Darling Downs teenager who violently raped a woman who was walking home through the Toowoomba CBD.
The teenager who planned the random attack and was deemed at high risk of reoffending, did not have a conviction recorded and only had to serve an 18 month jail term.
Before the New Year, Ms Frecklington said the case would be reviewed, but would not say if the offence of rape was being considered as part of future charges.
“We have previously been asked… whether rape will be included in the Making Queensland Safer Laws and have advised that all other offences will be considered by an expert panel, as part of a second tranche of the laws,” she said.
The first question levelled at the Crisafulli government when parliament sat for the first time in 2025 on February 18, was about the omission of rape and attempted murder.
Headway was made in late February following a sickening alleged rape in Cairns, where a number of juvenile offenders allegedly raped a woman during a home invasion.
At a press conference on February 24, Mr Crisafulli said despite “complexities” involved with rape crimes, the offence would indeed be included in the ‘adult crime, adult time,’ law reforms which were likely to be implemented by the end of 2025.
The announcement came five days after Mr Crisafulli refused to say if rape would be included on the floor of Queensland parliament, and 24 days after the submission process for the legal panel closed.
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