Restoring fair and effective youth justice

The Palaszczuk Government has taken the final steps to restore and strengthen Queensland’s youth justice system after the damage it endured during the brief tenure of the LNP.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Yvette D’Ath said the new laws passed this morning by parliament are the basis of a reform agenda that will lead to better outcomes for young people, local communities, and the whole state.

“This government is committed to building a youth justice system that adopts a balanced, evidence-based approach to reducing youth offending,” said Mrs D’Ath.

“We want young offenders to face up to the consequences of their actions.

“That’s why we have reinstated an expanded court referred youth justice conferencing program to allow for increased flexibility in the delivery of restorative justice interventions as part of police referred and court referred conferencing.

“At the same time we will support young people involved in the youth justice system to attend school, get into training and find work.”

The changes reflect community support for efficient and accountable court practices in the form of the reinstatement of sentence reviews together with a call for broader evidence based rehabilitative responses.

“Our youth justice strategy creates an increased focus on addressing identified risks of offending, including disengagement from education, poor health and complex family support needs,” said Mrs D’Ath.

“Less than a fortnight ago I attended a youth justice forum organised by local MPs in Townsville.

“The hundreds in attendance came from across the entire spectrum of the Townsville community, from indigenous elders to the victims of crimes committed by young offenders.

“No matter what their point of view, all sides in that debate were genuinely interested in preventative and reinvestment strategies that would see young people turn away from crime.

The measures passed by parliament will:

• make detaining a child in custody a last resort;

•  prevent childhood findings of guilt for which no conviction being admissible in court when sentencing a person for an adult offence; 

• omit breach of bail as an offence against the Youth Justice Act; 

• prohibition the publication of information identifying a young person in the youth justice system except those who have committed particularly heinous and violent offences, and; 

• reinstate the Children’s Court of Queensland’s power to review sentences handed down by the Children’s Court magistrates.

Mrs D’Ath said the new laws do more than just remove the unjust and ineffective provisions put in place by the Newman LNP Government.

“We are expanding the definition of a sentence order so as to allow new sentences imposed as a result of a child’s contravention of their original sentence order to be reviewable under the Youth Justice Act,” said Mrs D’Ath.

“The Children’s Court will also be closed when hearing all youth justice matters under the Children’s Court Act 1992, and we will provide for victims or their representatives to be present in closed court.”

“These measures also increase the age at which children and young people subject to periods of detention under the Youth Justice Act are to be transferred to adult corrections from 17 to 18 and empower a court on application to delay a young person’s transfer for up to six months.”

Mrs D’Ath said the Palaszczuk Government’s approach to youth justice, steering young offenders away from a path of further offending, stood in stark contrast to the LNP’s reliance on ill-conceived notions like boot camps.

“The evidence shows programs that remove young people from their home environments for short periods with little or no provision for follow up and consolidation of support when they return do not work,” said Mrs D’Ath.

“They do not reduce offending, they do not make our communities safer and they do not provide young people with real opportunities to improve their lives.”

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