Using Queensland’s own laws to highlight the government’s youth justice failings does not make judges soft

‘Now that more children are imprisoned, prisons and watch houses have become places where basic human rights are being violated.’ Photograph: tzahiV/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Queensland has set new records for child imprisonment. More kids than ever before are in the state’s youth detention system, with prisons so crowded that up to 100 a night are being housed in adult police watch houses.

Yet of course the prevailing community view remains that the courts are too soft on crime.