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Youth offender rates rise for first time in more than a decade, with
recidivism rates also up, data shows
(HTM) Source
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* **In short:** The latest national data shows youth offender rates
* However, the data's long-term analysis shows a trend towards fewer
* **What's next?** The federal government is funding justice reinve
The latest youth crime data shows the number of juvenile offenders is
increasing for the first time in more than a decade, as ideological
tensions grow over how to deal with children committing crimes.
While the number of children and teenagers committing crimes had been
tracking steadily downwards, the rate increased by 6 per cent in the
last financial year.
Criminologists say it is too early to say whether it is an aberration
or a trend that will continue.
A Queensland police documentary called Policing Youth Offenders shows
children being arrested.(Supplied: QPS)
A more detailed breakdown of the Australian Bureau of Statistics data,
obtained exclusively by the ABC, reveals recidivism is also
increasing, suggesting diversion programs are failing to turn around
the behaviour of the small cohort of repeat offenders.
WA Children's Commissioner Jacqueline McGowan-Jones says she's not
surprised by the data.
Jacqueline McGowan-Jones has spent time speaking with juvenile
offenders as part of her role as WA Children's Commissioner.(Supplied:
Commissioner for Children and Young People)
"What we've got now is small numbers of kids who are becoming
entrenched in this behaviour," she said.
"The stakes are incredibly high that we start addressing the root
causes of this behaviour, as we're losing a generation of kids."
The data backs up anecdotal evidence of a recent increase in more
regular and aggressive youth offending, which some have regarded as
exaggerated by sensationalist media coverage and social media group-
think.
The tensions are most keenly felt in regional centres, where some
residents are pooling funds to hire security guards, and where racial
tensions are being stirred by alleged vigilante behaviour.
## 'Extreme anxiety and extreme anger'
The trend doesn't come as a surprise to criminologist Terry
Goldsworthy.
"The volume of offending by hardcore youth offenders is increasing,
and that's the problem," he explains.
"I think politicians can make the mistake of going, well, the number
of unique offenders is less than what it was a decade ago, so there's
really not a youth crime problem.
Terry Goldsworthy served as a detective inspector with Queensland
Police Service before specialising in criminology.(ABC News: Michael
Lloyd)
"But a person who's been victim of a crime doesn't care whether or not
it's the same person who's broken into their house three times or a
different person — they just care that they're being broken into.
"It's the volume of the crime that matters to them, and that's what
we're seeing.
"So I think there is extreme anxiety and extreme anger in the
community."
## Under pressure
The tension over whether to take a child welfare or law and order
approach is proving to be an increasingly complex moral and policy
dilemma for governments across Australia.
And it's an ideological debate playing out in real time in towns
racked by rampant crime.
For policy-makers, the pressure is growing on two fronts.
On the one hand, communities are demanding the government rein in the
surging youth crime that's making long-term residents feel unsafe and
prompting some to leave town.
CCTV vision of a recent ram raid incident in the Northern Territory
town of Katherine.(ABC News)
At the same time, there's a growing concern about a punitive
punishment approach being taken in regards to children who have been
"set up to fail" via familial neglect, community indifference and
flawed welfare systems long before their first arrest.
Many have undiagnosed neurological impairments, and have been exposed
to the type of violence, poverty and substance abuse that would make
most Australians shudder.
Alleged child offenders - such as this boy in Broome - are escorted in
handcuffs during transportation to youth prisons in metropolitan
areas.(ABC News: Erin Parke)
"There is some tension between the two realities — the child is a
victim at the same time as they're an offender," Dr Goldsworthy
explained.
"And I think that sometimes confuses the system as to how we respond
to them.
"We know that if you address issues around family violence, access to
food and so on, you reduce offending, but those kinds of programs
don't necessarily sell well at election time.
"So in that sense, I think our systems are failing, and these kinds of
statistics are not surprising.
"I think it's going to be an ongoing debate, and it's going to become
even more politicised."
This health clinic in the Kimberley had to be closed due to repeated
break-ins and vandalism.(Supplied)
## Impact on community
What is clear in some towns in northern Western Australia is that
Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents are frustrated by ongoing
break-ins and vandalism, and concerned about the welfare of the
children involved.
Philomena Lewis is a Nyul Nyul woman who lives in Broome.
"Some of us elderly Indigenous people, we are very angry about it and
we are very surprised, because the kids making problems in the
community, they're mainly all our Indigenous children," she said.
"It's been going on for a while now — children doing breaking and
enters, stealing vehicles, burning vehicles."
Philomena Lewis says elders are frustrated and hurt by rising crime in
their hometowns.(ABC News: Erin Parke)
Ms Lewis believes parenting is at the crux of the issue, as well as
government systems that lack compassion for the children involved.
"Often the parents aren't even there, they will get the older kids to
babysit so they can go down the pub or play cards, and that's when the
kids will just take off," she said.
"And when they're out on the street they will start drinking and doing
marijuana and stealing vehicles and housebreaking.
"Some parents are struggling, and there are a lot of good parents out
there, but some are being selfish and not thinking about their
children.
"It makes me very angry because you are meant to be protective of your
children."
## 'I had tears in my eyes'
Like many Aboriginal elders, Ms Lewis believes a return to mild
physical punishment would help restore discipline.
But she is also concerned that policing is further victimising
children who have been set up to fail by a lack of supervision and
underfunded child protection services.
"I've witnessed a young boy, maybe only aged 11 or 12, being grabbed
by three big strong policemen, and the way he was pushed and shoved
was not nice," she said.
"This boy may have done the wrong thing but a child never deserves to
be dragged, treated like that, like he was a little toy.
"His mother was terrified and I felt bloody terrible. I had tears in
my eyes."
Ms Lewis speaks at a crime forum held in the Kimberley to try to find
solutions.(ABC Kimberley: Ben Collins)
## What's causing the increase?
To some, the trend towards a smaller cohort of youth committing more
crimes is a symptom of growing economic inequity in Australia.
And the fact that almost 60 per cent of children in youth detention
are Aboriginal suggests a spiralling disconnect defying efforts to
close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage more broadly.
Jacqueline McGowan-Jones has spent a lot of time with children in
detention, during escalating concerns about conditions within
facilities such as Banksia Hill.
Jacqueline McGowan-Jones became the WA Commissioner for Children and
Young People in 2022.(Supplied: Commissioner for Children and Young
People)
She says it's clear the current juvenile justice model — which she
characterises as an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff — is not
working.
"These young people are often lonely and seeking attention, and
sometimes negative attention is better than no attention at all," she
said.
"It is absolutely heartbreaking to see children who, whilst their
numerical age may be older, their intellectual age is around 10 or 12,
and they don't understand things like cause and effect."
## 'We must intervene early'
Ms McGowan-Jones, who has Arrente and Warumungu heritage believes the
focus on reactive punishment rather than preventative investment is
driving recidivism.
"Our current approach is making these young people more likely to
become lifelong criminals, rather than focusing on a really
comprehensive approach to early intervention, prevention, diversion
and support," she said.
Children from remote and regional Australia are statistically more
likely to come into contact with the juvenile justice system.(ABC
Kimberley: Erin Parke)
"We must be making sure that where there's a child at risk of
significant contact with the criminal justice system, that we're
intervening early and providing wraparound supports to divert them.
"We have to get to that point, or we will continue to bury children
who have taken their own lives, and we will continue to have to build
prisons for adult offenders who were children when they started
offending."
Both state and federal governments have increased funding for division
programs in recent years, including an $81 million Commonwealth spend
on justice reinvestment initiatives which started in 2022.
## Raising the age
The increase in youth crime comes as states and territories wrestle
with whether to lower the age of criminal responsibility, which has
historically been set at 10 years of age.
The debate goes to the crux of the dilemma over whether to treat child
offenders with a welfare or law and order approach.
So far the Northern Territory is the only jurisdiction to raise the
age to 12, with Victoria set to follow suit later this year.
There have been growing concerns about the treatment of children in
youth detention facilities in recent years.(Supplied: Ombudsman SA)
Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT have all committed to raising the age
to 14 within the next few years.
The changes mean younger children will no longer face criminal charges
if caught offending, and instead will be case managed or directed to
diversionary programs.
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