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Independent human rights experts on Monday urged lawmakers in the Australian state of Queensland to vote against a bill proposing the introduction of additional criminal offences, imposing adult sentences on youth offenders.
UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards and Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Albert K. Barume voiced concerns regarding the Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill 2025 in a letter addressed to Australian authorities, urging “members of the Queensland Parliament to vote against the bill.”
Introduced on April 1, 2025, the Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill proposes expanding the list of offences for which children can receive the same penalty as adults. In most Australian states, including Queensland, the minimum age of criminal responsibility is currently 10. There are 13 “adult crime, adult time” offences under the current act, with the amendment bill suggesting the inclusion of an additional 20 offences, including arson, attempted murder, torture, rape, attempted rape, attempted robbery, and trafficking in dangerous drugs.
Asserting that this bill, among other proposed state laws, is “incompatible with basic child rights,” the experts emphasized “the various criminal legal systems operating in Australia appear to be in crisis nationwide.”
They acknowledged, “Children are suffering undue harm to their safety and well-being, as well as to their educational and life prospects as a result of short-sighted approaches to youth criminality and detention.”
Advocating for an approach that centres the well-being and rehabilitation of young people and aligns with international law, they stated, “Juvenile facilities should prioritise education and rehabilitation to support childhood development. Criminal justice reform alone does not result in fewer anti-social or criminal behaviours.”
Furthermore, the experts note,
Organizations such as the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Queensland Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Law Centre and Change the Record are among those that have made submissions on the bill, echoing the UN experts’ concerns, highlighting its contravention of human rights, and maintaining that it should not be passed.
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UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards and Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Albert K. Barume voiced concerns regarding the Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill 2025 in a letter addressed to Australian authorities, urging “members of the Queensland Parliament to vote against the bill.”
Introduced on April 1, 2025, the Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill proposes expanding the list of offences for which children can receive the same penalty as adults. In most Australian states, including Queensland, the minimum age of criminal responsibility is currently 10. There are 13 “adult crime, adult time” offences under the current act, with the amendment bill suggesting the inclusion of an additional 20 offences, including arson, attempted murder, torture, rape, attempted rape, attempted robbery, and trafficking in dangerous drugs.
Asserting that this bill, among other proposed state laws, is “incompatible with basic child rights,” the experts emphasized “the various criminal legal systems operating in Australia appear to be in crisis nationwide.”
They acknowledged, “Children are suffering undue harm to their safety and well-being, as well as to their educational and life prospects as a result of short-sighted approaches to youth criminality and detention.”
Advocating for an approach that centres the well-being and rehabilitation of young people and aligns with international law, they stated, “Juvenile facilities should prioritise education and rehabilitation to support childhood development. Criminal justice reform alone does not result in fewer anti-social or criminal behaviours.”
Furthermore, the experts note,
According to a Queensland Family & Child Commission submission to the inquiry into the youth justice and incarceration system from October 2024, despite First Nations children aged 10-17 being approximately 8 percent of the population of Queensland, 55 percent of children in the statutory youth justice system are First Nations.
Organizations such as the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Queensland Human Rights Commission and the Human Rights Law Centre and Change the Record are among those that have made submissions on the bill, echoing the UN experts’ concerns, highlighting its contravention of human rights, and maintaining that it should not be passed.
The post Human rights experts raise concerns over Australia youth justice systems appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.