In the announcement,Palaszczuk also tookaim at the courts, saying they “need to do their jobs”.
O’Gorman argued magistrates and judges,whose jobs are to apply the law as passed by parliament,should not be criticised for decisions,but instead highlighted how resources for prosecutors needed to be looked at,particularly around appealing Childrens Court judgments.
He said to his knowledge,statistics of prosecutors appealing grants of bail in the Childrens Court were low.
“If prosecutors are not appealing,then don’t blame the Childrens Court magistrate who has made a particular judgment,blame the prosecutors,” he said. “And if resources are the problem,blame the government for not giving prosecutors sufficient resources to appeal bail decisions.”
The Queensland government’s proposed changes
- Increasing the maximum penalty for stealing a car from 7 years to 10 years’ imprisonment
- A more severe penalty of 14 years if the offence is committed at night,where the offender uses violence or threatens violence,is armed or pretends to be armed,is in company or damages or threatens to damage any property
- Amend the Youth Justice Act requiring courts to take into account previous bail history,criminal activity and track record when sentencing
- Increased penalties for criminals who have boasted about these crimes on social media
- Extreme High Visibility Police Patrols
- A $9.89 million fast-track sentencing program in Brisbane,Townsville,Southport and Cairns so children spend less time on remand and more time serving their sentences
- The construction of two new youth detention centres
- A trial of engine immobilisers in Mt Isa,Cairns and Townsville
- The appointment within QPS of Assistant Commissioner to the position of Youth Crime Taskforce Commander
- The increased penalties apply to adult as well as juvenile offenders.
But to help stop juveniles from reaching the court and prison systems,Debbie Kilroy,the chief executive of Sisters Inside – an organisation that advocates for criminalised women and children – said more funding should go to support services,rather than to the police,to prevent childhood problems early on.
She said the government’s proposed changes were simply “more carceral responses”.
“By stating that we’re going to be more draconian,in regards to building more prisons for children,funding more police,implementing and acting harsher penalties,does not ensure community safety,” she said.
“It actually ensures more community harm.
“We expect children to walk out of these prisons feeling whole – where they’ve actually been highly traumatised because of the violence perpetrated against them – so they actually want to then harm others. It just escalates.”
The Justice Reform Initiative said it was “deeply alarmed” by the announcement,with Queensland already imprisoning the most children Australia-wide,and the youth prison population increasing by 27.3 per cent in the last seven years.
“We know that building new prisons won’t keep the community safe in the long term. There is overwhelming evidence that youth detention does not work to deter crime,rehabilitate,or make communities safer,” executive director Dr Mindy Sotiri said.
“The evidence shows almost all young people who are imprisoned in youth detention in Queensland reoffend within 12 months.
“The Queensland Government’s plan to build two new youth detention centres,when we know that locking up children increases the likelihood of them committing crime in the future,is not being ‘tough on crime’ – it is ignoring the evidence.”