Australians urged to ditch ‘tough on crime’ mindset for youth justice as it does not work

‘Detention centres are the worst possible places for fixing our broken kids’: criminologist Prof Ross Homel. Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The Guardian

The head of the Queensland Family and Child Commission says he is “deeply concerned” at public sentiment calling for more punitive responses to youth crime in the face of clear evidence that “tough” approaches don’t work.

Luke Twyford, the QFCC’s principal commissioner, told Guardian Australia that the government and community needed to be “smart against crime, not tough on crime”.