• LNP unveils next step in plan to restore safety where you live with a new court sentenced Circuit Breaker Sentencing intensive rehabilitation program for youth offenders.
• 3-6 month rehabilitation program will be a sentenced alternative to detention, giving Courts another tool to rehabilitate and break the cycle of crime for youth offenders.
• Program will be a circuit breaker for youth offenders through structure, discipline, support and consequences.
• Commitment will deliver two programs catering to up to 60 youth offenders at any one time, in an $80 million investment.
The LNP has today released another major pillar of its Making our Community Safer plan, announcing a court sentenced intensive youth rehabilitation program to restore safety where you live.
The Circuit Breaker Sentencing program will deliver intensive rehabilitation for youth criminals who have been sentenced after their crimes, with a 3-6 month court ordered program.
Circuit Breaker Sentencing program is a tough-on-crime approach with discipline and consequences to rehabilitate youth offenders and redirect away from lifetimes of crime.
Two small-group facilities with a combined capacity of 60 youth will be built outside urban areas with an $80 million investment, in northern and southern Queensland and offer wraparound social and health services to break the cycle of crime.
The policy follows previous LNP announcements of Adult Crime, Adult Time, Staying on the Right Track and the Making Queensland Safer Laws, to remove detention as a last resort.
LNP Leader David Crisafulli said the LNP’s Circuit Breaker Sentencing plan would stop the cycle of crime with genuine rehabilitation of repeat youth offenders.
“Circuit Breaker Sentencing not only keeps dangerous youth criminals off our streets, it rehabilitates young people who have become embedded in the cycle of crime,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“Our plan will pull a U-Turn on these youth offenders’ lives of crime as the last stop before detention.
“Now the courts will have an option to direct youth to the rehabilitation they need as an alternative to detention, while at the same time keeping our community safer.
“Small groups, big support, intensive rehabilitation, Circuit Breaker Sentencing will end the crime merry-go-round for young people who can’t find a way out.
“With three to six months of intensive rehabilitation, these programs will have a focus on structure, consequences for action, education and discipline.”
Shadow Minister for Youth Justice Laura Gerber said Circuit Breaker Sentencing was part of the Right Plan for Queensland’s Future.
“When Labor weakened our crime laws a decade ago, they created a generation of untouchables who know no consequences and have held our community hostage,” Ms Gerber said.
“Circuit Breaker Sentencing will be another tool in the belt for our justice system, further unshackling our Courts to deliver sentences that match the case in front of them.
“Labor’s Youth Crime Crisis continues to get worse but the LNP is offering the Right Plan to step-in to halt youth crime and stop the churn of Queenslanders falling victim to crime.
“Queenslanders want a Fresh Start and an end to Labor’s Youth Crime Crisis.
“Only the LNP has the Right Plan for Queensland’s Future, including the Making our Community Safer plan.”