What is youth crime, and is it on the rise in Queensland?

Despite the coronavirus pandemic upending much of what is considered normal, the election flashpoint of youth crime has managed to remain on the agenda in Queensland ahead of the October 31 poll.

Claims of sharp rises in youth crime across Queensland have garnered attention during the election campaign.Credit: Robert Shakespeare

While the Palaszczuk government's measures to ward off COVID-19 outbreaks and recover from the virus are likely to take centre stage, law-and-order issues and claims of spikes in youth crime across the state have also garnered attention on the campaign trail.

But police and government data, along with criminologists and expert bodies, paint a picture that goes far beyond growing groups of "young thugs" roaming the streets.

What is considered youth crime in Queensland?

This is a broad term, with an even broader level of complexity. From the age of 10 until 18, any offence is dealt with under the Youth Justice Act, which technically defines that person as a "child offender". Children under this age cannot be held criminally responsible for their actions.

Until the age of 13, prosecutors are also responsible for proving the accused knew, or should have known, what they were doing was wrong.

The United Nations defines "youth" as anyone between 10 and 24, but before long-awaited state reforms took effect in February 2018, anyone aged 17 or over was no longer dealt with in the Queensland youth justice system.

When it comes to specific offences, those most linked to youth crime tend to be what criminologists call "signal crimes" – robberies, burglaries, car thefts, assaults and sexual offences – that cause heightened anxiety in the community.

The north Queensland city of Townsville – where the government holds three marginal seats – is widely regarded as a hot spot, along with Cairns, while the Gold Coast, Logan and some suburban areas of Brisbane have also faced such claims.

Is it really increasing?

In effect, no, although the explanation is also not so simple. Long-term analysis of overall statewide crime data by the Queensland Government Statistician's Office shows the number of reported offences against property and people – adjusted for population – has declined over the past 20 years.

However, after a significant drop in property crimes throughout the 2000s, there has been an "increasing trend from 2015-16" across all offences, it noted in the latest crime report published in March.

This found that since 2009-10, the age of offenders has "shifted" towards 25 and older, while there has also been a small increase in those aged 10-14, largely offset by a drop in the 15-19 age group.

At a regional level, the overall crime rate in Townsville jumped 1.5 per cent from 2017-18 to 2018-19, and 9.5 per cent across the past nine years to 14.1 offences for every 100 people – one of the highest above the statewide average of 10.3, but below inner-city Brisbane and Queensland's sprawling outback region.

But the jump represented one of the smaller at a regional level when compared with single-year increases of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent across some parts of the Brisbane, Moreton Bay and Wide Bay regions, and more than 20 per cent over the nine-year period. The longer-term list also expands to include Ipswich, Toowoomba and the Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday regions.

Many so-called signal crimes climbed across both the year-on-year and nine-year data. While robberies largely dropped in Brisbane, they rose almost everywhere else – including in the Townsville, Logan-Beaudesert, Moreton Bay and Ipswich regions, which feature rates above the state average.

Assaults have remained relatively stable apart from an increase on the Gold Coast. Beyond some increases in Townsville, Moreton Bay and Brisbane's west, it's a similar story for sexual offences – all sit on or above the state average.

Unlawful entries rose slightly in the past year but dropped across the longer-term, while the unlawful use of motor vehicles rose statewide.

Compared with the 2017-18 report data, the number of children who committed alleged offences against the person statewide (which includes homicides, assaults, sexual offences and robberies) dropped by 16 to 4839.

Property offenders (including those who committed theft and unlawful entry or use of a vehicle) rose by about 1000 to 27,641, while those who committed other offences (spanning traffic, domestic violence, drug, and good-order offences, such as disobeying a move-on direction) fell by about 1000 to 17,623. Respectively, each group represented about two-, three- and one-in-10 of all offenders.

Is there more to it than just numbers?

The data, based only on crimes that are reported to police and recorded, does not provide a full picture. Mark David Chong, a Townsville-based criminologist at James Cook University, pointed to the "social dimension" of crime, which can include a more proactive police presence leading to an enforcement jump or boosted media coverage of certain crimes raising the number of victims who report it.

"Official crime data will always be somewhat deficient in terms of providing us with the true extent of crime," he said. The role of media coverage, along with community and crime-watch groups on social media, which have raised fears of vigilantism, should also not be discounted."

Both can create "vortices of anxiety, excitement and reassurance" among their audience.

"These in turn then inform our perceptions of crime, as well as that of law and order within the city, and may then spark heightened concerns about increased levels of crime," he said.

Terry Goldsworthy, an associate criminology professor at Bond University and a former police officer of 28 years, says "fear of crime is as debilitating as the crime itself".

Who are these young people?

The child offenders in the broad crime data, which does not represent a unique count of individuals, are mostly male repeat offenders – a trend that is also seen in the broader population. (Unique offenders aged 10-17 did drop 5.5 per cent across the previous year to a total of 11,936.) The data captures offenders who faced criminal proceedings but not those who were cleared by police.

Meanwhile, statistics from the Youth Justice Department showed that in 2018-19, about seven in 10 young people with proved offences were male, almost eight in 10 were older than 15, and one in 10 had committed 44 per cent of all offences. The data also showed they were among some of the most vulnerable groups.

A 2019 department census of 1846 young people found 80 per cent had used at least one substance. More than half of these had either drunk alcohol or used marijuana, and one-fifth had used ice or another methamphetamine. More than 40 per cent had mental health or behavioural issues.

Like the broader justice system, young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were over-represented, at 59 per cent. More than one-third had parents who had been held in adult custody, and half were disengaged from school, training or work.

A total of 63 per cent had experienced or been affected by family and domestic violence – including 14 per cent who were under a child protection order – and about one-fifth lived in unstable or unsuitable accommodation.

Dr Goldsworthy said the varied and complex experiences of the young people largely traced back to their home environment, adding: "The causes are multifactorial."

Most young people also tend to "grow out" of offending, Dr Goldsworthy said. "If someone loses their car ... and they want justice, that's totally understandable.

"But I guess if we're taking the long-term view, it's far better to move these children out of the criminal justice system rather than keep them in there and necessarily hardwire them to be part of that system."

What is being done and what more could change?

The Palaszczuk government announced a "historic" boost to police numbers statewide late last month after an extra 130 officers were sent to Townsville from a "flying squad" to target recidivist offenders and carry out prevention work.

A four-year Youth Justice Strategy, released by the government in 2019, included "four pillars" recommended by former police commissioner Bob Atkinson in an earlier review: intervene early, keep children out of custody, keep them out of court, and reduce reoffending. This later morphed to include new laws denying bail to repeat offenders.

Announcing a Townsville crackdown on a "small, hardcore" group of young people in June, Youth Minister Di Farmer also announced that Indigenous-led rehabilitation programs would begin trials in that city, Cairns and Mt Isa.

In July, LNP leader Deb Frecklington also touted early intervention as part of an overhaul of the youth justice system should her party win government. This would include a three-strike detention policy to crack down on "young thugs", and laws to ensure a child's record stayed with them into the adult court system.

The LNP would also move to scrap youth bail houses and trial five "community payback farms", which youth advocates quickly linked to its infamous "boot camps". Similar ideas have been backed by Katter's Australian Party and One Nation.

But many of those working within the sector have long argued that such tough approaches don't help. A report released last month by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found 66 per cent of young people in Queensland who were released from a supervised sentence in 2017-18 returned within one year – the highest rate in the country.

Along with detention, young people dealt with under the Children's Court can also be given unsupervised sentences in the community, such as good-behaviour bonds. Diversionary actions, such as warnings, cautions and restorative justice conferences, are also available. In Townsville and beyond, community-based committees have sought to bring police, experts and local leaders together to form tailored responses.

An Australian Institute of Criminology report, released in August and reviewing 44 studies into effective youth offender programs, found that while there was no "one-size-fits-all" approach, those that considered the individual needs of young people and were culturally sensitive were "best placed" to address the underlying causes of offending.

Meanwhile, a strong and sustained campaign is pushing to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 – in line with global calls from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Dr Goldsworthy himself believes the number of young people going into detention could be reduced "without touching the [age of] responsibility" through more nuanced policing. He also favours a more evidence-based approach.

"You simply can't arrest your way out of these things," he said.

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