‘Children now love luxury – they have bad manners, contempt for authority, disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. They are tyrants, not the servants of their households’ – Socrates, 380BC.
There is something strange going on with youth crime in rural and regional Australia. Normally, I treat hysterical rising delinquency claims with a pinch of salt – explicable by an increase in police numbers, or a headline-chasing tabloid, or a right-wing politician.
Because while they talk of a youth crime wave, what they really so often mean is Aboriginal/Asian/African/Lebanese youth crime waves, and push every racist button available.
But my dive into actual crime statistics locally, and in Moree, Townsville and Alice Springs, shows a really disturbing picture.
Even allowing for over policing, target squads and hyperbole, there is a significant increase in home invasions, break and enters, car stealing and police pursuits, with young offenders the key protagonists.
Youth offender rate up
Nationally, the ‘youth offender rate’ also increased for the first time in 15 years. This is confirmed anecdotally by conversations with Legal Aid, Aboriginal Legal Service lawyers and magistrates around the country. Something is happening, and it is seriously bad.
Here in Byron Shire, we are not immune, with circumstantial and police commentary of an increase in serious youth crime in Ocean Shores and Suffolk Park in particular.
Lismore and Ballina have seen even greater increases, with some really serious and violent crimes committed by young people.
This begs two questions – what is causing this genuine crime wave, and what to do about it?
Maybe it is amphetamines. The ice scourge is becoming generational now. Cheaper than cannabis or alcohol, and chronically available because of policing priorities, it’s the ultimate escape – and risk inducer.
Perhaps it is because of the massive increase in the numbers of children in care in NSW and Qld?
Maybe it is a post-Covid behavioural eruption. Possibly, it is complex trauma, where young people’s brain functioning is affected because they are dealing with the horrors of growing up around violence or abuse.
The prevalence of foetal alcohol syndrome in young offenders is incredibly disturbing, and owing to the expense and complexity of diagnosis, we are only just seeing the tip of that iceberg.
I know it is unfashionable to say so, but the level of pathological uncaring violence in video games worries me, and the effects on those with cognitive damage has not been studied.
Apparently, ‘post-boasting’ is a real thing, where those involved in crimes advertise their antics on pixelated social media in an effort to big-note themselves. I reckon the cost of living and housing crises must also be taking a particular toll.
Many young offenders are ensconced in permanent financial stress in households drenched in poverty, with the possibility of home ownership outside their wildest imaginations. Despair is rampant. There is no rosy future. Try renting a house as a young person.
I mentioned climate change anxiety (wondering if it was an issue) to a specialist youth lawyer colleague, and she laughed. Basically, I am off with the fairies and a middle-class wanker if I think that is even on their radar.
As to what works to curb the criminality, it is easier to start with what doesn’t.
I watched Jacinta Namatjira Price recently, and her answers were to remove more children from home, bring in the riot squad and military, lock them up for longer, and teach these little buggers some responsibility.
NSW and Qld have gone down the path of tightening bail for young people, which has led to an explosion of young people on remand.
They are innocent until proven guilty, and many are below the presumed age of criminal capacity, and for some alleged young offenders, an adult in the same situation would be subject to less stringent laws. In Qld, the detention centres are so full that imprisonment in police station watch-houses is the norm – these kids don’t receive any visits or schooling.
The Northern Territory government’s curfew for under 18s is problematic on so many levels.
Many young people are on the street because home is not safe.
And depriving a whole class of people of their liberty to be in public places is the ultimate in discrimination.
All of this is short-term political expediency at its worst. Criminalise, institutionalise and separate young people from their community. Long-term, this just kicks the problem down the road in the worst possible way.
What works?
What does work? The short answer is nothing quick. There are some great pilot programs starting up in Moree and the Koori Youth Court is showing promising results. In Alice Springs, ‘Breaking the Cycle’ and the Strong Grandmothers Group are on the right track. Ultimately, we need a sea-change in early intervention, support for families in crisis, more domestic violence programs, innovative health and education inclusion and First Nations-led programs within community. We also need real research into the causes of this crime wave. Why now? What’s happening?
The only bright side is that crime tends to come in surges, and we may well be at the peak of one now. In the meantime, buckle in for a while. Lock your doors, install sensor lighting, hide your car keys and get a dog.
♦ David Heilpern is a former magistrate and is now Dean of Law at SCU.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
