1992 Queensland Juvenile Justice System

Jonny is seventeen years old. Jonny is not old enough to vote, to marry, to gamble, to smoke tobacco, to drink alcohol in public places, to get a tattoo and to sign any contracts. Yet Jonny under the current criminal justices laws in Queensland, is treated like an adult. This multi modal presentation will explain why this is the case through the legislation, and the different arguments for both sides of the topic. Recommendations that have been given by legal authorities will finally be spoken.

The 1992 Queensland juvenile justice act, (or the JJA) was passed on the 25 of august 1992. Essentially it states that children 17 years of age should be treated in the same manner as adults. Section five defines “child” as a person who is under

A report ‘seen and hear: priority for children in the legal process,’ was published by the Australian law reform commission. This report recommended that children be treated as an adult once they reach the age of 18 not 17 in the criminal system across Australia. Australia also ratified the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child, which states “a child means every human being below the age of 18 years”. (United Nations, 2000) All jurisdictions except Queensland are now in line. This is despite evidence that treating offenders as adults at such a young age can have damaging long term effects. Juvenile imprisonment increases the risk of the child becoming a repeat offender or recidivist. If these children are housed with criminals they desensitize to crime. They also learn new adult ways of committing crimes, “Cain in 1996 examined the criminal histories of the 52,935 children who appeared in New South Wales” courts between 1986 and 1994. One discovery that she made was, – “70% of offenders appeared in a children’s court only once and that 30% re-offended” (Hutchinson, 2006). It was also found that the harsher the penalty on a young person the greater the likelihood they would reoffend. The report suggested that a 17yr old child was still of an age that a lifetime of criminal activity could be avoided if there were not exposed to adult prisons and