YANQ Media Release

The Youth Affairs Network of Queensland (YANQ) Director, Siyavash Doostkhah, has labelled the LNP's proposed amendments to the Juvenile Justice Act as socially irresponsible. The proposal to remove the notion of detention as a last resort demonstrates the failing of LNP to understand that the aim of the Juvenile Justice system should be to rehabilitate young offenders, rather than fast-track them to a life of crime as adults. It is high time for the LNP to adopt progressive policies looking at Juvenile crime as not something to be punished but rather something to be solved.

It cost approximately half a million dollars to keep each child in a Juvenile Detention Centre for a year. The Youth Detention Centres are full to the brim and most young people in Detention are being detained for relatively minor offences. Many are homeless, have drug and alcohol problems and come from backgrounds of abuse, family breakdown and poverty.

Queensland programs such as the Youth Bail Accommodation Service have proven successful in keeping young people out of Detention Centres and assisting young people to rehabilitate themselves and comply with their court orders. This service runs on a fraction of the cost of sending a young person to Detention. The key principle behind the Juvenile Justice Act is the focus on prevention and early intervention not on sentencing a young person to a life of crime.

Queensland still has only a handful of beds for young people needing drug and alcohol detox and rehabilitation. Queensland has a higher proportion of citizens in Prisons and Youth Detention Centres, but this is not making the community any safer and it's costing taxpayers millions of dollars, money that could be spent on preventing crime.

Dr Richard Hil, an expert in Juvenile Justice issues, strongly backs the stance taken by YANQ. "The nearest thing to a criminological truth is that imprisonment doesn't work. It doesn't rehabilitate, costs a fortune and is likely to add to the toll of offending. It's a short term fix for a complex problem. Imprisonment should remain absolutely where it belongs - a policy of last resort or no resort at all", he said.

Queensland can not afford more Law and Order auctions at the expense of the community. Both sides of politics must articulate their policies on crime prevention and the level of investment they are prepared to make. This is what should be debated in the Parliament not the neglectful proposal by Mike Horan to punish the victims of society's short comings.

Increase in crime and the level of violence is of major concern to everyone in the community but recycling the "getting tough" and the "Law and Order" solution demonstrates policy bankruptcy.

Economic analyses also demonstrates that policies aimed at reducing social inequalities, economic viability and family stability are the most cost effective way to reduce juvenile offending. Economically this is five times more effective in preventing juvenile crime.

 CONTACT: Siyavash Doostkhah, Director, Youth Affairs Network of Queensland (YANQ) Phone (07) 3844 7713 or 0407 655 785