By YANQ and CAIR (Coalition Against Inappropriate Remand) - CAIR is a coalition of community-based youth, legal, educational and social justice organisations working together to abolish inappropriate remand in custody of young people in Queensland.

74% of the young people in custody in Queensland Youth Detention Centres on 30 June 2006 were on remand - the outcome of a dramatic upward trend over recent years.

Inappropriately detaining young people in custody puts community safety at risk. Many young people only ever commit a single, minor, juvenile offence, yet evidence suggests that many first-time alleged offenders are remanded in custody. Most children on remand in Youth Detention Centres in Queensland are charged with minor, non-violent offences. Repeated studies have shown that the younger a child is detained in custody, the greater the likelihood that they will re-offend as a juvenile and end up in prison as an adult. Detaining a young person increases their likelihood of future incarceration, and therefore diminishes the chance that they will become a productive citizen. There is substantial evidence to indicate that detaining young people increases both short and long term risks to public safety.