Justice Reform Initiative Media Release, 29 November 2024

The Queensland Government’s ‘Making Qld Safer Bill’ will fail to reduce crime, will fail to improve community safety, and will cause enormous harm to Queensland children.

The legislation, tabled in parliament on Thursday, which includes sentencing children as adults, removing detention as a last resort – a principle still in place for adults – and expanding the admissibility of a child’s criminal history into their adult years, blatantly breaches domestic and international human rights standards and risks pulling children deeper into a failing punitive legal system.

Justice Reform Initiative Executive Director Dr Mindy Sotiri said the punitive ‘tough on crime’ measures directly contradict the newly elected Queensland Government’s commitment to prevention, early intervention, diversion and rehabilitation, instead doubling down on punitive legislative measures that will increase the numbers of children interacting with the justice system, and as a consequence increase the likelihood of future reoffending.

“Jailing is failing in Queensland. There is no evidence that locking more children up, or locking up children for longer will make the community safer,” she said.

“This is the third time the Queensland Government has put forward legislation that overrides the Queensland Human Rights Act. Not only is the ‘Making Qld Safer’ Bill incompatible with Queensland’s own human rights legislation, it is also incompatible with what all of the evidence says about what actually works to build safer communities. It is a continuation of a false promise to Queenslanders that tough laws are the answer to keeping their communities safe.

“Support for victims and community safety should always be centred when designing policies and legislation. But all the evidence shows proposals like ‘adult time, adult crime’ and removing the principle of detention as a last result will actually make crime worse.

“Early contact with youth detention leads to entrenched adult criminal justice system involvement. Locking more children up, or locking children up for longer does not address the drivers of crime. And the experience of imprisonment makes it more likely, not less likely, that someone will go on to reoffend.

“We have welcomed the Queensland Government’s commitment to prevention, early intervention, diversion and rehabilitation but punitive ‘tough on crime’ measures like this risk nullifying the impact of alternatives to prison that will genuinely work to keep the community safe and reduce victimisation.”

Queensland already incarcerates the highest number of children in the country, and most have been there before – 9 in 10 children who are sentenced to prison in Queensland return within 12 months of release.

The rate of children aged 10 to 17 in prison in Queensland has risen by 20% in the four years to 2022-23. 92% of children incarcerated in the state are there on remand.

Dr Sotiri said the ‘Making Qld Safer Bill’ will add pressure to an already overwhelmed system at an enormous cost to Queensland taxpayers and children’s wellbeing.

“The increase in custodial sentences will further strain capacity in youth detention centres in Queensland and result in children being held in watch houses for extended periods of time, exposed to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment that we know causes long-term harm and makes future offending more likely,” she said

“These changes directly conflict with the LNP’s focus on rehabilitation and ‘detention with purpose’ and are in direct conflict with decades of evidence.”

“Queenslanders deserve a smart approach to crime and community safety. We hope to engage further with members of the new government to work together for a stronger, safer Queensland, based on evidence of what the evidence shows works to build safer communities.”

The Justice Reform Initiative has recently published a series of discussion papers on key reform areas including early intervention, as well as reports outlining the success of evidence-based alternatives to prison.

Media contact: Amy Price, 0437 027 156

The Initiative respectfully acknowledges and supports the current and longstanding efforts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to reduce the numbers of Indigenous people incarcerated in Australia and, importantly, the leadership role which Indigenous-led organisations continue to play on this issue. We also acknowledge the work of many other individuals and organisations seeking change, such as those focused on the rate of imprisonment for women, people with mental health issues, people with disability and others.