In 2008 the Department of Communities commissioned a research project that aimed to identify the factors leading to the high rates of remand in custody in Queensland juvenile detention facilities. The remand rate is the percentage of the total number of detained young people who are on remand. The remainder of the youth detention population comprises those young people who are serving a court ordered detention sentence.

By Suzi Quixley for the  Coalition Against Inappropriate Remand (CAIR)

Inappropriately detaining young people in custody puts community safety at risk - repeated studies indicate that the younger a person is when they are first detained in custody, the greater the likelihood that they will go onto re-offend and end up in adult prison.  74% of the young people in custody in Queensland Youth Detention Centres on 30 June 2006 were on remand - i.e. they were being held in custody before a finding of guilt had been made or before their sentence had been finalised.  This is largely unnecessary and jeopardises both the safety of the community and the future chances of success in life for the young people detained. 

By Wally Dethlefs 

The Situation in Queensland

The majority of young people being held in detention centres are on remand. In Queensland this was almost 75% as of June 30, 2006. One of the reasons for this, is that young people may be required to appear in court for a non-detainable offence (such as stealing a Mars Bar) and due to social circumstances (such as accommodation instability, poverty etc) they may ‘fail to appear' in court on the date required. This failure to appear can be a detainable offence. Imprisoning more young people on remand places both the community and young people themselves at further risk.

Following from a community forum held on 25^th October 2007 discussing strategies for reducing the number of young people on remand in Queensland Youth Detention Centres, the first NGO working party meeting was held at YANQ on 9^th November.