Youth justice advocates and lawyers have criticised the Queensland government’s sweeping youth justice changes for missing the mark,saying the focus should instead be on diversion programs and the child protection system,which a majority of young offenders were also involved with.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced a number of new measures to curb youth crime in the state on Tuesday,after several high-profile incidents pulled the issue into focus in recent weeks and sparked calls for change from the police union and both sides of government.
Among the changes,to be introduced to Parliament this month,are a trial of GPS tracking devices for some repeat offenders,and a reversal of the presumption of bail,which will require the accused to prove why they should not be held on remand for serious offences committed while on bail.
But University of Queensland law professor Tamara Walsh said the small cohort at the centre of the government’s plan – about 400 repeat offenders responsible for almost half of all youth crime,which is declining as a whole – were also some of the state’s most vulnerable.
“It may look good on paper – it may look like the government is cracking down – but really,it is just completely taking the context out,” Professor Walsh said. “It’s a misallocation of resources,and also attention. The attention should be on the child protection system ... that’s what is failing.”
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Professor Walsh said many offenders were victims of crime themselves and had other complex problems,including mental and physical health issues,difficult home lives,and disengagement with school and work.
A 2019 Youth Justice Department census of 1846 young people found63 per cent had been affected by family and domestic violence,with 14 per cent under a child protection order,and 59 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island descent.
“Lots of kids break curfew[at the moment] because they are not safe,” Professor Walsh said of the GPS proposal.