Teenagers Hold The Law In Contempt
'Teens binge on crime' by Darrell Giles (The Courier-Mail, 7/3/2010)

FOUR out of every 10 children arrested or cautioned by Queensland police have been in trouble with the law again within a year, new crime statistics reveal.

Figures obtained by the State Opposition reveal high rates of recidivism by offenders aged under 17 years.

Liberal National Party Leader John-Paul Langbroek said a "revolving door" juvenile justice system was "driving a culture of school violence, bullying and street crime". Mr Langbroek said the LNP would overhaul the juvenile justice system if it won government in 2012 and "change a culture amongst young people that is going unchecked".

The statistics show:

• Of 1921 young offenders arrested during the 2006-07 period, 712 (37 per cent) were re-arrested the same year.
• Of 2283 arrested in 2007-08, 934 (41 per cent) were rearrested.
• Of 9077 young offenders given police cautions in 2006-07, 3509 (39 per cent) had previously been cautioned.
• Of 8747 cautioned in 2007-08, 3340 or 38 per cent had been previously cautioned.
• More than 75 per cent of all young offenders in detention had been there before.

Mr Langbroek said a system of cautioning young offenders had backfired. He said the Labor Government's policy of "jail as a last resort" meant that almost half of all juveniles arrested were being let back out on the streets to be re-arrested later.

"Is it little wonder that some children and young people believe that crime, bullying and violence are acceptable when they see a justice system that virtually sanctions anti-social behaviour?" he said.

Mr Langbroek said three LNP reforms to the juvenile justice system would be:

• Replace jail as a last resort with a requirement that judges and magistrates impose jail sentences where appropriate.
• Place a cap at three on the number of times a juvenile could be cautioned, after which they would automatically be arrested.
• Allow courts to automatically name and shame serious juvenile offenders, unlike current laws that allow it only in exceptional circumstances.

LNP justice spokesman Lawrence Springborg said the reforms would be introduced within the first 100 days of an LNP government.

Other figures obtained by the Opposition showed that in 2008-09, 100 of 1249 young offenders found guilty of knife possession were sentenced to a term of imprisonment. From 2005-08, of 63 young offenders convicted of rape, 46 did not do any jail time.