STIMULUS 2

System in crisis or kids being kids

Times are changing and the behaviours that our young people are displaying may not be significantly
different from a generation ago but there seems to be many influences on our youth that are
highlighting their behaviour as anti-social with a general disregard for the law. So are we in crisis or
has society become less tolerant of this behaviour? If you believe the media every young person in
our society is a criminal or just waiting to become one. The incidence of juvenile crime has been a
constant battle within our system for a long period of time. Our law makers and enforcers are
constantly attempting to update and reinforce a set of laws that don’t seem to be making an impact
on a section of our young population.
Statistics would lead you to believe that the majority of offenders are indigenous youth as they are
13 times more likely to have a proven offence and 27 times more likely to be in detention. Alarming
statistics when you consider that less than one percent of the population have a proven offence and
are in detention on any given day. So why can’t our system deal with indigenous offender rates? Are
they really that much worse than non-indigenous youth in relation to criminal behaviour? The over-
representation of indigenous offenders in our system raises many questions. The issues that face
indigenous youth are varied and diverse in relation to social, cultural and historical matters and our
legislators probably need to do more to reduce these statistics and focus more attention on ways
that these young people can involve themselves more productively and proactively.
In February Queensland finally implemented legislation to ensure 17 year olds are now included in
the juvenile system. This amendment has finally acknowledged the significant breach of human
rights that has been taking place by incarcerating 17 year olds, as one of the few systems that
refused to treat juveniles in accordance with United Nations obligations in relation to the treatment
of children. However, within a system that is already overloaded, with children at a Brisbane Youth
Detention Centre being forced to sleep on floors due to overcrowding, there are concerns as to the
impact of transitioning these older offenders back to the juvenile system. Lack of training, lack of
staff and the potential overcrowding are all issues needing to be addressed by the Government.
Our courts have a range of sentencing options for juveniles at their disposal, with not all involving
detention. Some of these are clearly more effective than others as the recidivist rates seem to be
lower when the punishment involves a community based program in preference to any form of
incarceration. With the cost of keeping a juvenile in a detention centre costing upwards of $150000
per year heavily outweighing the costs of diversionary and community supported programs,
taxpayers must be asking why we are building more detention centres instead of accessing all
available programs to keep these troubled youth away from the influence of detention and other
more hardened criminals.
Within our legal system there are many alternative approaches to managing juvenile offenders
without the need for temporary removal from the community. Don’t get me wrong, there are some
juveniles that need be shown that their behaviour, repeated or otherwise, is not acceptable in
society. However, many are able to be convinced to change their behaviour through community-
based programs and non-custodial court orders. Some of these programs operating within
Queensland include boot camps, youth conferencing, Project Booyah, Murri Court, Drug Court to
name a few. With these programs costing a fraction of the cost to imprison an offender why doesn’t
our system, particularly the courts, opt for more proactive, positive outcomes?
In recent times there have been a number of cases of inappropriate operation of detention centres
throughout Australia including Dondale in the Northern Territory and Cleveland Youth Detention
Centre in Brisbane. As a result of these cases there was an independent review conducted in 2016
into our youth justice system. This review believed that changes in our system should be focused on
improving cultural services and supports; programs, education and training; mental health and
therapeutic services; behaviour management and incident prevention; and monitoring and
oversight. If these changes are implemented maybe the system would become more transparent
and accountable, instead of operating as a strictly punitive and unsafe approach to dealing with
these juvenile offenders.
Reports recently provided to a Rockhampton District Court in relation a number of juvenile
offenders outlined a number of issues linked to the offending. The issues included having peers who
encouraged negative behaviour, lack of parental supervision or lack of regard for parents and other
authorities, substance abuse and prior appearances in court. A recently convicted 15 year old
offender commented that this new “place in society” is about as good as it has been in his life. This
is a reflection of the fact that many young people may appreciate the stability of detention in
preference to the uncertainty and dangers of their “normal” life.
Kelly Richards from the Australian Institute of Criminology claims that although a substantial
proportion of crime is perpetuated by juveniles, most juveniles will ‘grow out’ of offending and
adopt law-abiding lifestyles as they mature. She argues that a range of factors, including juveniles’
lack of maturity, propensity to take risks and susceptibility to peer influence, as well as intellectual
disability, mental illness and victimisation, increase juveniles’ risks of contact with the criminal
justice system. These factors may reinforce the belief that many juveniles are not inherently bad
but merely going through the difficult stage of adolescence. With 2016 statistics showing that less
than 1% of the juvenile population are in detention, have at least one proven offence or are being
supervised in the community, there are a lot of juveniles doing the right thing in our community.
Since the recent amendments to the Youth Justice Act (Qld) 1992 there has been a focus on the
juvenile system becoming more community based. When looking at some of the above issues there
are still a number of areas of concerns that our system need to address to ensure that juveniles are
given every opportunity to avoid being part of the legal system, or at least given the opportunity to
rehabilitate within the system.