Rhyming sound bites won't fix problems with youth justice system

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli’s election promise that juveniles would “do adult time for adult crime” is a throwback to the Campbell Newman Government’s failed bikie legislation.

Civil Liberties Council Vice‑President Terry O’Gorman said that the Newman Government introduced so‑called tough bikie legislation without doing the necessary groundwork or engaging in consultation and as a result the legislation failed.

“It was a Newman Government Law and Order gimmick where that Government’s rhetoric could not successfully be put into practice”, Mr O’Gorman said. 

Mr Crisafulli’s “adult time for adult crime” is high sounding but has little meaning as reflected in the Opposition Leader’s admission that the concept had to be worked on.

“Mr Crisafulli said ‘The mechanics of that (this) will have to be worked on’[1]”, Mr O’Gorman said.

Mr O’Gorman said that by that concession Mr Crisafulli is admitting that behind the Law and Order tough sloganeering the necessary policy work and details have not been worked on or thought through by the Opposition.

Mr O’Gorman said that Mr Crisafulli did not refer in yesterday’s “adult time for adult crime” announcement to the objective facts and evidence of the current highly problematic Queensland juvenile justice system as outlined in Auditor‑General Brendan Worrall’s Report “Reducing serious youth crime” released on 28 June 2024.

Mr Worrall’s Report concluded that youth justice has lacked stability over the last 7 years including that the Department responsible for youth justice has moved between departments five times and that the lack of leadership in Queensland’s juvenile justice system is reflected by the fact that the Queensland Police Service has had three different Assistant Commissioners responsible for youth justice over 3 years.[2]

Mr O’Gorman said the Auditor‑General’s Report noted that in respect of rehabilitation at the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville which is said to be the worst centre for youth crime in Queensland the number of young offenders who completed rehabilitation programs decreased from 215 in 2018 to 31 in 2022 and in addition most young offenders only received an average of 3.5 hours of face to face education each week from 2021 to 2022.[3]

“Further, addressing the issue of rehabilitation and community safety the Auditor‑General said that Queensland Youth Detention Centres are already operating beyond capacity[4], noting that ‘In 2022‑2023 all three of Queensland’s Youth Detention Centres were operating over the safe capacity by an average of 23 young offenders each day.’[5]”, Mr O’Gorman said.

Mr O’Gorman said that the Auditor‑General’s Report analysed the percentage of time Queensland’s three Youth Detention Centres spent in lockdown between 7:00am and 7:00pm and noted that “Cleveland Youth Detention Centre has the highest rates of lockdown.  Since 2018‑2019 it has increased from 12% to 81% in 2022-2023.  This is equivalent to 294 days in lockdown in 2022-2023.”[6]

Mr O’Gorman said that Mr Crisafulli should indicate his proposals to address the significant problems with juvenile justice as outlined in the Auditor‑General’s Report.

“Mr Crisafulli should tell Queenslanders what he is going to do to remedy the serious failure to rehabilitate young offenders in Queensland juvenile jails and what he is going to do to address the multiple problems in juvenile justice as outlined in Mr Worrall’s Report”, Mr O’Gorman said.

“Law and Order slogans are one thing.  Doing the hard work to fix Queensland’s juvenile justice system is quite another”, Mr O’Gorman said.

[1] See Courier Mail 08/07/2024 Page 5

[2] See Qld Audit Office “Reducing serious youth crime” Report 15:2023-24 released 28 June 2024 at Page 12

[3] Ibid Page 32

[4] Ibid Page 33

[5] Ibid Page 13

[6] Ibid Page 32