Queensland Removes ‘Imprisonment as a Last Resort’ for Child Criminals

The concept of detention as a last resort for minors has been scrapped by Queensland Labor following the introduction of a new community safety plan. A fundamental perspective of the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty states that “imprisonment should be used as a last resort.” However, under the amended Queensland Charter of Youth Justice Principles, the rules now state: “A child should be detained in custody, where necessary, including to ensure community safety, where other non-custodial measures of prevention and intervention would not be sufficient, and for no longer than necessary to meet the purpose of detention.”...