This submission presents research and analysis by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) of issues raised in the committee’s Inquiry into the Making Queensland Safer Bill 2024.
The IPA’s research highlights shortcomings of the youth criminal justice system, and how alternative non-incarceration punishments for non-violent youth offenders can produce better outcomes for Queensland taxpayers and communities.
While the IPA recognises the need to amend the Youth Justice Act 1992 to address the punishment of youth who commit serious crimes, punishment of violent crime should be paired with sentencing reform that diverts low-level, non-violent offenders from the path to more serious crimes.
Detention is necessary in order to isolate violent and dangerous youth criminals, thereby protecting the community, but incarceration is expensive and has limited capacity. To address this, the youth criminal justice system should focus on identifying offenders at the onset of low-level crime and implementing suitable interventions during sentencing to prevent escalation to more serious offences that eventually require incarceration.
IPA analysis highlights the critical role of early intervention, noting that non-violent youth offenders often fall through the cracks due to limited sentencing options available to judges.
Without timely reformative measures, these offenders are at greater risk of progressing to more serious criminality, undermining community safety, and adding to the burden placed on Queensland’s detention facilities.
