- New four-year A Safer Queensland 2024-2028 Youth Justice Strategy tackles root causes of youth offending
- Positive signs with serious repeat offenders down by 14 per cent since October 2023
- Downward trend in number of youth offenders – 31 per cent reduction in the past 10 years.
- Targeted intervention to reduce offending, leading to fewer victims of crime
The Miles Labor Government is doing what matters to keep Queenslanders safe, which is why it is releasing a four-year strategy to reduce offending by young people, leading to safer communities and fewer victims of crime.
A Safer Queensland 2024-2028 Youth Justice Strategy outlines the government’s plan and commitment to tackle the root causes of crime and support community safety.
The strategy aligns with evidence and research, recommendations from the Youth Justice Reform Select Committee Interim Report and the Queensland Audit Office report Reducing serious youth crime.
It underpins the Government’s Community Safety Plan, Putting Queensland Kids First Plan and Youth Engagement Package.
The strategy highlights evidence-backed intervention programs that have been proven to reduce offending, including the continuation and expansion of interventions targeting serious repeat offenders such as Multi-agency Collaborative Panels, Intensive Case Management and Youth Co-Responder Teams.
The Intensive Bail Initiative, expansion of Electronic Monitoring and other amendments made to the Youth Justice Act will ensure serious repeat offenders are held to account for their actions.
Extensive evaluations of the effectiveness of Youth Justice programs have been published by the Department of Youth Justice, with the most recent being On Country programs, Community Youth Response and Diversion and the Queensland Youth Partnership Initiative. An evaluation of Youth Co-Responder Teams is expected to be published soon, with findings showing the program is contributing to reduced offending.
There continues to be an ongoing downward trend in the number of youth offenders with a 31 per cent reduction in the past 10 years.
There is still work to do with offending by the small percentage of young people who are serious repeat offenders. The strategy focuses on this group of serious repeat offenders. The number of these offenders on an average day has reduced 14 per cent since October 2023 – from 497 to 425 in May 2024.
As stated by Minister for Youth Justice Di Farmer:
“First and foremost keeping Queenslanders safe is always our main priority.
“This strategy will guide our continued investment in prevention and early intervention programs that are proven to work by reducing offending behaviour, leading to fewer victims of crime.
“It demonstrates how we are supporting programs that work to tackle the root causes of crime and reduce re-offending by expanding and increasing the capacity of effective programs and interventions.
“Long-term data shows the rate of unique youth offenders across Queensland is falling.
“This strategy stays the course on prevention and intervention to divert the majority of young people coming to police attention away from the youth justice system through the continuation and extension of programs supporting families, carers and kin to prevent offending for vulnerable children and young people.”
