New laws will only serve to trap and harm children in Queensland prisons
Last night, the Palaszczuk Government in Queensland passed dangerous new laws that will only serve to trap Queensland children in the criminal legal system.
The Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2021 will entrench children in the quicksand of the legal system by reversing the presumption of bail for children who reoffend in certain circumstances and allowing for young people aged 16 and 17 to be shackled with electronic tracking devices.
The laws call into question the Palaszczuk Government’s compliance with its own Human Rights Act 2019 and will be felt by the most marginalised members of the Queensland community – children, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children – the hardest.
The laws will result in more children being denied bail in circumstances where 87% of children behind bars in Queensland are already in pre-trial detention. This will see more children funnelled into, and warehoused in, police watch houses.
Meena Singh, Legal Director at Human Rights Law Centre, said:
“These laws are cruel and will punish children who need support and services the most. They will result in racist outcomes and will hit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids the hardest. The Palaszczuk Government is proving to be hell bent on locking up and funneling children into a system that only harms and never rehabilitates them.
“The younger a child is when they first interact with the police, the more likely they are to become caught in the criminal legal system. We need to move away from laws that don’t work to building safer communities from the ground up, with support for families.
“These laws are particularly shameful given this is the Government which previously committed to moving kids out of police watch houses. They are now back flipping by enacting laws that will only serve to turbo-charge the rate at which children are funnelled into those cruel and degrading places. Detaining children in tiny, cold watch house cells for weeks on end is not just cruel, it is unlawful.
The Human Rights Law Centre previously called for the Queensland Parliament to reject the laws and instead substantially increase investment in therapeutic services that support marginalised children and their families. See the Human Rights Law Centre submission to the Queensland Parliament, endorsed by Change the Record and Caxton Legal Centre, here.
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