Robert (not his real name) is 15. He’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, likes playing rugby league, and is training to be a mechanic.
We lock up children for longer than any other place in the nation, and our detention rates have been going up over the past four years.
This has to change.
Imprisoning Queensland children does not keep our communities safe, and it costs hundreds of millions of dollars.
More than a third of children imprisoned in Queensland have been living in unstable or unsuitable housing. More than half have been impacted by domestic and family violence. Almost all come from low-socio economic households.
72 per cent of Queensland children in youth detention are First Nations. These children are overrepresented in prisons because of systemic racism and bias, socio-economic disadvantage, the ongoing impacts of colonisation, and intergenerational trauma.
When children are supported, nurtured and loved, when they can go to school, sleep in their own beds at night and be with their friends, they thrive and our communities are safer.
That’s an increase of $56 million from the previous financial year and doesn’t include the $250 million allocated to building a new youth remand facility.
Despite the money poured into incarcerating kids, more than 80% of Queensland children who leave detention will return to the youth justice system within the year.
For a fifth of the price of detaining children, government can fund tested, effective, humane alternative solutions to youth detention that address the root causes of problematic behaviour, change the trajectory of children’s lives and keep our communities safe.
The Queensland Raise the Age campaign calls for all children under 14 to be diverted away from the youth justice system, for no child to be kept in a watch house, and for support services that address the root causes of children’s offending behaviour to be properly funded.
When we properly fund Queensland’s community services, we will stop youth crime in Queensland.
Robert (not his real name) is 15. He’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, likes playing rugby league, and is training to be a mechanic.
YHES House is proud to work with young people to help them reconnect with their communities and make changes in their lives that lead to a more positive future.
We speak with Glenys and Teena from the Horse Whispering Youth Program about the benefits of early intervention programs for at risk youth.
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