Queensland has amongst the strongest youth justice laws in the country – and we are committed to ensuring that communities are kept safe and that offenders are held accountable.
Our Government’s Working Together Changing the Story: Youth Justice Strategy 2019–2023 and the Youth Justice Strategy Action Plan 2019–2021 released in 2020 are evidence-based initiatives, aimed at strengthening prevention, early intervention, and rehabilitation responses to youth crime, with public safety and community confidence as the forefront.
Our most recent proposed legislative responses are designed to break the cycle of offending by serious repeat offenders, with stronger penalties supporting the efforts of police and the courts to reduce offending and hold criminals accountable.
This tough new action includes:
- Increasing the maximum penalty for stealing a car from 7 years to 10 years imprisonment
- A more severe penalty of 14 years if the offence of stealing a car is committed at night, where the offender uses violence or threatens violence, is armed or pretends to be armed, is in company or damages or threatens to damage any property
- Amend the Youth Justice Act requiring courts to take into account previous bail history, criminal activity and track record when sentencing
- Increased penalties for criminals who share these crimes on social media
- Extreme High Visibility Police Patrols
- A $9.89 million fast-track sentencing program in Brisbane, Townsville, Southport and Cairns so children spend less time on remand and more time serving their sentences
- The construction of two new youth detention centres
- A trial of engine immobilisers in Mt Isa, Cairns and Townsville
- The appointment within Queensland Police Service of an Assistant Commissioner to the position of Youth Crime Taskforce Commander
- The increased penalties apply to adult as well as juvenile offenders.
Download the stronger laws factsheet (PDF).
We realise that there is no quick fix for youth offending – and a range of long-term responses are needed to prevent offending and to protect the community.
Strengthening Community Safety
Submissions regarding options for reducing and preventing youth offending have now closed.
On 21 February 2023 the Minister for Police and Corrective Services and Minister for Fire and Emergency Services introduced the Strengthening Community Safety Bill 2023 into the Queensland Parliament. The Bill was referred to the Economics and Governance Committee for detailed consideration and report by 10 March 2023.
Read more about the consideration and report process.
The proposed legislative responses in the Bill are designed to break the cycle of offending by serious repeat offenders, with stronger penalties supporting the efforts of police and the courts to reduce offending and hold criminals accountable. They are part of suite of new tougher action on youth crime and its causes.
This tough new action includes: