Residents Fed Up With Revolving Door Juvenile Justice System

Published on 19 August 2024

Goondiwindi Region residents are fed up with the Queensland Government's revolving door juvenile justice system, according to Goondiwindi Regional Council Mayor, the Honourable Cr Lawrence Springborg AM.

Mayor Springborg made the following comments after a spate of violent local home and accommodation provider invasions over the last few days.

The constant catch and release of serious juvenile offenders must stop. It is a complete dereliction of the state's duty of care to protect law-abiding citizens and is only perpetuating a brazen escalation of offending and creating a whole new class of untouchables who know it!

These violent offences, which were virtually unheard of in our community a couple of years ago, have now become a terrifying reality. Before, juvenile offending was serious, but it was generally opportunistic property crime and rarely, if ever, involved assault and personal threats of injury to people. The impact on our community is profound, with personal safety and security under threat.

If this situation is not dealt with soon, we’re going to end up like other communities with a death on our hands, whether it be a victim or an offender.

We have juvenile offenders targeting our community, who have hundreds of offences and multiple court appearances for violent crimes who have their identities automatically suppressed and are often released straight back into the community unsupervised and unrestrained, with little more than a caution. This happens under a court system that simply follows inadequate laws put in place by the current Queensland Government, which preferences the offender's rights over those of the law-abiding citizens.

It is not only the community that has had enough, the police have as well. Our local police have an almost 100% arrest and apprehension rate for such crimes. There is also a nearly 100% release rate once the police take them before the courts, if not immediately, within a very short period. This is not a deterrent and imposes no consequence for actions.

It is said that crime doesn't pay; well, the offenders are paying absolutely nothing, and the law-abiding community, businesses and visitors to our region are paying everything, with the destruction of property, including houses, cars and equipment, escalating insurance costs and thousands of dollars of out-of-pocket expenses. Not to mention the personal trauma and lifetime effects that come from such an invasion of a family's own place of safety.

The Queensland- New South Wales border only makes things worse, creating a jurisdictional game of cat and mouse, with different police pursuit laws on each side of the border, differences and delays in dealing with offenders and no way of ensuring supervision of offenders, if indeed an order is even made.

Many of these offenders would have been dealt with as adults only a few short years ago, when the current Queensland Government lifted the age to be considered an adult when offending from 17 to 18, many of these offenders now enjoy the privilege of anonymity, easier bail, continuous cautions and reduced, or no sentences as a consequence.

This change has directly impacted the attitude of offenders, who know very well that they can get away with the offending that they would be brought to account for as an adult.

I will meet with senior police command from both sides of the border on Tuesday this week. I intend to forcefully raise the community's concerns again. I have also been in direct contact with the Director General of the Department of Youth Justice and the Queensland Police Commissioner today, where I have done the same.

However, the problem is not a lack of willingness from the police to do their job. It is an abject failure of the current Queensland Government to ensure the importance of public safety over the rights of serious repeat juvenile offenders who have been given too many chances.

Several things can and should be done immediately to address these issues.

• A single court jurisdiction to consider linked crimes committed across border communities.
• The immediate appointment of an interim Qld Cross Border Commissioner.
• Law changes, compelling courts to place the principle of public safety and the risk of reoffending ahead of all other considerations before releasing or sentencing a serious juvenile offender.
• A review of the way that the law and courts deal with offenders aged 17 years.
• Publication of the identities of serious juvenile offenders.
• Amend police powers of pursuit to mirror those of NSW Police in border situations.
• Compulsory monitoring and supervision of offenders when released, including linking and implementing such orders with cross-border agencies.
• Vigorous appeals of inadequate sentences for serious juvenile offenders.
• Active and strident intervention in dysfunctional and dangerous family situations to break and divert the cycle of criminal behavior.
• Parental, or guardian responsibility directed and/or enforced in a court ordered environment.

My fellow Councillors and I are on the same page, the current approach isn't working, and changes are critical for the sake of the safety of law-abiding residents, businesses and visitors.

We are not alone in experiencing this across Queensland. Still, it becomes even more real when it happens close to home and is increasingly violent.

The fact that this pattern of offending is escalating around the state is reason enough for laws and approaches to change.