Queensland is spending tens of millions to jail more children behind bars than any other jurisdiction in the nation with no impact on community safety, a report says.
There were 219 inmates under the age of 17 in detention in June compared to 172 in 2014, according to a Justice Reform Initiative report released on Tuesday.
Nine out of 10 haven’t been sentenced, and two in three are Indigenous despite that cohort making up less than 10 per cent of the state’s child population.
The Queensland government spends $1880 (US$1257) per day or about $686,127 per year to keep each child behind bars, with the overall cost of youth detention about $183 million in 2021.
Justice Reform Initiative executive director Mindy Sotiri says the incarceration policy is based on “political, policy and legislative choices” rather than evidence.
“Building more prisons, as the Queensland government is planning to do with its proposed $500 million youth prison expansion, does not work to deter crime, rehabilitate or make communities safer,” she said.
“This is a short-sighted and counterproductive policy that will make it more likely that vulnerable children will commit further offences and become trapped in the revolving prison door that has become a devastating feature of Queensland’s justice system.”
Resources Minister Scott Stewart praised the state for having the “most number of kids locked up” in the country, saying “that goes to show that we are tough on crime”.
Corrections Minister Mark Ryan later denied youth justice policies weren’t working, saying detention was being used with other programs.
“What you have to do, and this is what this government is doing, pulling all the levers, is that when you detain them, you also have intervention programs, and that’s what we’re investing in and continue to invest in and that’s what we continue to remain committed to,” he told reporters.
The state spends about $128 million each year on support programs for young offenders, but the report said those aren’t effective.
Many children who enter detention experience socioeconomic disadvantage, trauma, out-of-home care and neurological disorders, and “prison increases disadvantage and disconnection”.
The report said imprisoned young people - particularly Indigenous children - need programs to treat their physical and mental health, address their education, poverty, and homelessness, and provide them with health and mental treatments.
“Children need family and community support, education, and life opportunities, not punishment that compounds disconnection and disadvantage,” the Justice Reform Initiative wrote.
“A persistent failure to provide the kind of supports and opportunities in the community that genuinely address the underlying drivers of incarceration underpins a costly system that does not make the community safer.”
The report also called for the age of criminal responsibility or the minimum age for detention in Queensland to be raised from 10 to 14.
A state parliament committee earlier this year rejected a Greens push to lift the age to 14, arguing instead for a national push to make 12 the minimum age.
