The response to youth crime is a story often told in reverse, where the most intense efforts to address anti-social behaviour are invested after an offence has occurred. Courts, bail and detention are at but one end of the youth justice spectrum. At the other, and throughout the continuum, lie many opportunities to divert a young person's trajectory away from courts and custody; this is where our greatest efforts must be invested.
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Young people engage in anti-social behaviour for a multitude of reasons: extended absences from school, exposure to domestic violence and abuse, behavioural and mental health issues, substance abuse, homelessness and poverty, or childhood trauma. Court appearances and detention do not resolve these factors.
The key to keeping young people out of courts and custody is early intervention. This requires a coordinated approach across governments, community and the youth justice sector to support vulnerable children, young people and families from birth right throughout their childhood and into young adulthood. It involves identifying and addressing present or emerging factors that may later lead to anti-social behaviour if not resolved through long-term, sustained effort.
For young people who have already come into contact with the youth justice system, intensive, specialist support is needed to address the underlying causes of the anti-social behaviour and reduce the likelihood of reoffending.
We've seen some positive examples of community intervention initiatives.
The Queensland Police Service and youth justice workers' co-responder model reduces youth reoffending by engaging with vulnerable young people in public places on matters including homelessness, domestic violence and substance misuse and connecting them with support services where possible. The initiative began in Townsville in May 2020 and has since rolled out to eight locations across the state. Since it started, co-responder teams have engaged with young people more than 2,500 times in Townsville and around 13,000 times in other locations around the state.
The community-led Mount Isa Transitional Hub connects at-risk youth with school activities and support services to help reduce youth crime rates in the area, while working with the Department of Education to establish a satellite school. Since it opened in 2020, 350 young people have accessed the hub. The Queensland Police Service reported a decline in police needing to conduct street welfare checks of children aged 10 to 17 years old since the hub opened and a marked decline in offences committed.
These programs are testament to the value of inter-agency and cross-sector collaboration in addressing youth crime. It is vital that long-term funding is committed to programs like these that are working to keep young people out of courts and custody.
Undeniably, the community has a right to feel safe and have confidence in its justice system. This right, however, must be balanced with the rights of young people. That is not to say that anti-social behaviour should be without consequence. On the contrary, if at-risk young people are viewed through a rights and wellbeing lens, rather than just a criminal one, we will see more effective outcomes when it comes to youth crime.
The Queensland Government's Youth Justice Strategy focuses on prevention, early intervention and collaboration to tackle the underlying causes of youth crime. This is a sound approach. We must stay the course to achieve the intent of these reforms to keep all children, young people, families and communities safe.
Cheryl Vardon
QFCC Principal Commissioner,
