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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/09/queensland-youth-crime-laws-labor-lnp-changes-ntwnfb>
"David Crisafulli has faced criticism for failing to name a single expert who
supports his “adult time” laws that would put children – as young as 10 – in
detention on adult sentences.
When the head of the state’s youth justice department, Bob Gee, told a
committee last week that the prospect of longer sentences would act as a
deterrent to children, he tried to back up his point using a 15-year-old study
from the US.
The study Gee cited actually argued against “get tough” calls to treat children
like adults.
Although the controversial legislation was fast-tracked through a week-long
parliamentary committee process and looks set to pass state parliament this
week, changes to the state’s criminal justice system and how it deals with
children have been a slow build.
In 2020, the Labor government amended youth justice laws to create a
presumption against bail for young offenders. After the pandemic, the
population of children in detention in Queensland soared.
About the same time that Crisafulli and his LNP colleagues began shouting
“youth crime crisis”, Queensland’s youth detention centres hit capacity.
As detention became overcrowded, staff numbers at centres plummeted. The
Cleveland youth prison at Townsville, at one point in 2022, had more than 50
staff vacancies. The situation led to children being kept in isolation for long
periods – hundreds of days in some cases – receiving little to no
rehabilitation.
Many children kept in these circumstances go back into the community angry and
unsupported. The Queensland Family and Child Commission found that up to 96% of
children released from detention reoffend.
In order to justify the suspension of the
Human Rights Act, the new
government has to outline why it believes there is an “exceptional crisis
situation”. The statement it has provided to parliament to do this, some say,
is darkly comical.
It explains that the bill abolishes “the principle … that a non-custodial order
is better than detention in promoting a child’s ability to reintegrate into the
community”.
The data clearly shows a non-custodial order is better at helping a child
reintegrate into the community, compared to a detention system with a 96%
failure rate.
As total offending by young people drops to near-record lows, there is evidence
that any uptick in repeat or some violent offending is occurring because of the
detention system. And youth advocates, and others, are now asking if the
“solution” now proposed risks putting more kids into it.
When it comes to youth justice in Queensland, up is down, left is right.
And black, it seems, is still black. As the government itself notes, its
changes will disproportionately affect First Nations children."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
