August 30, 2016
The Queensland Law Society has called on the State Government to bring Queensland into line with the rest of Australia to ensure 17-year-olds are no longer considered adults in the eyes of the law.
QLS president Bill Potts said it was appalling Queensland remained the only state or territory in Australia that treats 17-year-olds as adult offenders and subjects them to terms locked up in adult prisons with hardened and seriously violent criminals.
Mr Potts said Tuesday’s revelation about the harsh summary punishment inflicted on a teenage offender by guards in an adult wing of Brisbane’s Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre lent credence to the Society’s long-held view that children should never be held in adult prisons.
“QLS has a long-standing policy against treating children as adults in the prison system,” Mr Potts said.
“The Society has regularly called for an end to this archaic and, quite frankly, barbaric practice.
“What we have seen of late is beyond the pale for adults, let alone children.”
Mr Potts said that it was telling that a person of 17 could not legally buy a drink or vote in Queensland, but could be punished as an adult for any offence.
“The Society has a policy committing to evidence-based policy, and you won’t find a single scrap of evidence to show that there is any benefit to the community or to the offenders in putting 17-year-olds in adult prisons,” Mr Potts said.
“Exposure to the harsh reality of adult prisons reduces the chances of rehabilitating young offenders markedly, and if we care about salvaging these young lives we need to keep them out of the adult system.”
Mr Potts said it was time the Palaszczuk Government got serious about the issue, and acted to make legislative changes to ensure no more children ended up locked in Queensland’s adult prison cells.
He said it was not uncommon for Queensland judges and magistrates to comment how Queensland was the only State or territory in Australia to treat 17-year-olds as adult offenders, and how outdated and appalling the laws were when passing sentence against them.
“On the first of September next year we will celebrate – or, more appropriately, mourn – 25 years of treating children as adults in our prison system,” Mr Potts said.
“How many more pictures of children in bondage do we need to see before the government acts?”
- Editorial: The Law Society Is Right
