Opposition wrong on Boot Camps

Opposition wrong on Boot Camps.

The Opposition has got it wrong on their push for Boot Camps, Police and Corrective Services Minister Judy Spence said today.

"The Opposition's continual reliance on tired, old and outdated ideas such as boot camps for juveniles demonstrates just how out of touch Lawrence Springborg and the Liberal National Party are on law and order policy".

"The Opposition's criticism of the options available for policing of juveniles under the Juvenile Justice Act further shows his complete lack of understanding", Ms Spence said.

"The problem with the boot camp experiment is that it puts young juveniles with criminal tendencies together with other juveniles with criminal tendencies and they learn from each other.

"We do not get good outcomes from juveniles who are sent to detention for the same reasons". Ms Spence said.

Ms Spence said, "That is why we put so much money and energy into diversionary schemes such as youth justice conferencing where juveniles sit face to face with their victims and apologise and come to agreement about how they might make restitution".

"It's also why we put so much money into juvenile justice organisations who supervise juveniles on community service orders", said Ms Spence.

"We are the only state in Australia that has seventeen year olds in adult prisons".

"While the boot camp concept on the face of it sounds attractive, international research shows that it just does not produce good outcomes".

"Police are best equipped to make assessments on whether cautioning, juvenile justice conferencing or charging a juvenile is the best option for both the victim as well as the offender", Ms Spence said.

"I have spoken to many victims of juvenile crime who appreciate having the option of juvenile justice conferencing and of sitting down and talking to a juvenile about how the crime has affected the victim and what the juvenile can do to make amends for their crime, even for serious crime such as arson and wilful damage, as the juveniles are forced to confront their victims", Ms Spence said. 

This Government will continue to give police access to a full range of measures to deal with juvenile crime and not the Opposition's simplistic "lock them up and throw away the key" approach, Ms Spence said.