In 2018, following revelations about children being held in police watch houses, the Queensland government announced a new youth justice strategy designed to keep kids out of detention.
“Evidence shows that by placing young offenders in detention, they are more likely to reoffend,” the government’s statement said.
“We can’t continue to keep doing the same things over and over and expect a different result.”
Compare that statement with that of the police minister, Mark Ryan, in November last year, saying Queensland had changed course so dramatically on youth crime, that more children than ever were being held in state prisons and police cells.
“It is a fact – we’ve been on the record for a number of years now, saying that as a result of our youth bail laws, there are more young people in custody than ever before. That is a consequence of toughening laws.”
“That is an expectation from the community and it’s also a record that the government stands by.”
Five years ago the Palaszczuk government was seeking to keep children out of detention. Now it’s celebrating locking more up.
In its eagerness to meet “community expectations”, Labor has ceded control of the public debate on youth justice to the loudest, most extreme voices, who at the same time have further amplified the perception of a “crisis”.
If such a “crisis” – or a statistical increase in certain offences – exists, the evidence suggests it’s the “tough” and “tougher” responses that may have actually heightened the problem.
Queensland government data suggests about 80% of juvenile first-time offenders do not subsequently reoffend. But once a child becomes entangled in the system, nine out of 10 will continue to be criminalised.
That aligns with the findings of a 2009 study on peer influence that concluded that “considerable evidence suggests that the detention of juvenile offenders in programs characterised by high exposure to deviant peers and minimal adult interaction fails to reduce, and in some cases may exacerbate, rates of recidivism”.
Similarly, a 2019 Griffith University study said locking children up “may inadvertently contribute to their repeated recidivism though entrenching offender identities and social networks”.
Meanwhile, more than 80% of the children in detention in Queensland are on remand, a direct consequence of tightening bail laws.
According to social workers, in some cases children are arrested for offences that might not ultimately result in detention, but they spend time in prison on remand because they were caught breaching bail conditions.
“For some of these kids, it’s often safer to be out at night than at home,” one said. “And so they get pulled in for breaching bail conditions, and they spend time on remand.”
What makes this situation worse is that the conditions inside Queensland’s youth detention centres are increasingly problematic. Last week, a published court decision revealed that a 17-year-old was held in a prison cell for extended periods – more than 23 hours on some days – due to staffing shortages. The teenager came from a “very disadvantaged childhood” involving domestic violence, child neglect and substance abuse.
In youth detention he was largely confined to his cell despite good behaviour; he was given almost no access to teachers or other rehabilitative programs or resources.
We are setting these kids up to fail. And we’re doing it deliberately.
I spoke with a few Labor people last week who were clearly uncomfortable with the government’s approach, but countered by suggesting Queensland’s tricky electoral politics, particular in Townsville, demands the “tough” posture and that the LNP would be worse.
Progressives might question what, then, is the benefit of a Labor government whose leader makes public comments saying children “should fear the law”?
We expect our leaders to lead – to identify policies that work and then build support for them in the community.
Bringing people on board, acknowledged, is not an easy task on this issue. There is a fundamental disconnect between the experiences of the middle-class voting public – some of whom who have become unjustifiably scared about youth crime to the extent of paranoia – and those who, through disadvantage, poverty and other reasons, get caught in a cycle of crime.
Annastacia Palaszczuk heads a cautious government that forever seeks out the political middle ground. It has been the simple model for Labor’s electoral success in Queensland. But on youth justice, the centre course seems increasingly narrow.
Anger is building in suburbia, where people are pooling money for private street security, because the government’s response has been ineffective.
At the same time there seems to be an increased acknowledgment that policies that dehumanise some of our most vulnerable young people are needlessly and deliberately cruel.
Unless Labor can find a way to lead now, it is politically doomed on this issue. Every incident, minor or major, is being built into evidence of a crisis. In the void of principled leadership, extreme community voices are coming to the fore.
It is a lesson in the long-term damage that can be caused by short-term, vote-chasing politics.
