Amnesty International Australia urges the Queensland government to abandon the second tranche of “Adult Crime, Adult Time” legislation that is currently before the state’s parliament. The legislation introduces 20 new offences that would see children charged and punished as adults.
Amnesty International Australia reiterates its warning to the Queensland government and all Queensland legislators that treating children as adults in the criminal system could constitute violations of Australia’s international obligations to uphold the human rights of children.
Under international human rights law, children have the right to be safe from torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Australia ratified in 1990, states that arrest and detention of a child must be the absolute last resort, and for the shortest appropriate period of time.
“Children are not adults. Children are prevented from joining the labour force, are not allowed to live by themselves and have special protections in the education and health systems. Offending by a child is not “adult crime” and children must not be treated as adults in the justice system,”
Kacey Teerman, Amnesty International Australia’s Indigenous Rights campaigner
The Crisafulli LNP government itself has conceded that both tranches of their ‘Adult Crime, Adult Time’ legislation will disproportionately impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
These laws are openly racist, brazenly cruel and will only compound the trauma that leads children to offend in the first place.
“Indigenous children are the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in the criminal justice system, making up the vast majority of imprisoned children,” says Ms Teerman.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids face a system which is already geared against them; decades of racism and bias woven into the fabric of the criminal justice system. It is completely unconscionable that Premier Crisafulli and his government want to condemn these children to be treated as adults in the criminal system rather than funding the diversionary programs that help them get back on track.”
“It is completely unconscionable that Premier Crisafulli and his government want to condemn these children to be treated as adults in the criminal system rather than funding the diversionary programs that help them get back on track.”
Kacey Teerman
Evidence from parliamentary inquiries, human rights groups, criminologists and psychologists shows that incarcerating children does not reduce offending or rehabilitate children.
Rather, it shows that locking up children increases the likelihood of kids re-offending, compounds the trauma suffered by these children and creates echos of harm through their families and communities.
“The Crisafulli government have not taken into consideration the significant overrepresentation of children with disabilities in the criminal system. This issue is so widespread that the Disability Royal Commission published an entire chapter of its report detailing the extent that the criminal justice system criminalises and then brutalises children with disability, describing it as a national crisis,” says Ms Teerman.
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