Wilson, Jacqueline --- "How Useful Are the Concepts of 'Moral Panic' and 'Populist Politicisation' in Understanding Shifts in Juvenile/Youth Justice Law and Policy in Australia and/or Elsewhere?" [2024] UNSWLawJlStuS 27; (2024) UNSWLJ Student Series No 24-27

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HOW USEFUL ARE THE CONCEPTS OF ‘MORAL PANIC’ AND ‘POPULIST POLITICISATION’ IN UNDERSTANDING SHIFTS IN JUVENILE/YOUTH JUSTICE LAW AND POLICY IN AUSTRALIA AND/OR ELSEWHERE?

The concepts of ‘Moral Panic’ and ‘Populist Politicisation’ are pertinent to understanding shifts in juvenile justice law and policy. When considered with statistics that demonstrate the stability of juvenile crime rates over time, the existence of these concepts assists in explaining peaks and troughs of the numbers of juveniles interacting with the criminal justice system. Those fluctuations reflect ‘knee-jerk reactions’ by governments, particularly when there are high levels of media attention. Thus, literature suggests that the juvenile justice system is a reflection of political rather than penological interests.^[1]

This paper will examine the existence of these concepts and their impact in Australia, considering examples from multiple Australian jurisdictions – New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria – and their effect on the legislature.

Stanley Cohen’s development of the concept of moral panic is defined as a “group emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests; its nature is presented in a stylized and stereotypical fashion by the mass media. ... Sometimes the panic passes over and is forgotten, ... at other times it has more serious repercussions and might produce such changes as those in legal and social policy”.^[2] These groups become ‘folk devils’ – “visible reminders of what we should not be”.^[3] A ‘youth crime crisis’ plays to the ‘folk-devil’ mindset, with “wayward” juveniles becoming outsiders to be feared.^[4] A ‘symbolic crusade’ is mounted when public concern is generated regarding a particular concern, in this instance, juvenile crime.^[5]

A “classic” model of moral panic refers to the sequence Stanley Cohen initially delineated as ‘deviancy amplification’ – “initial deviance, societal reaction, increase in deviance, increase in reaction, etc.”.^[6] Stuart Hall et al later augmented this formula as a ‘signification spiral’, which creates a “complex web of meaning” demonising certain individuals and groups and condemning institutions as “spineless and ineffectual”.^[7]

The existence of a ‘crisis’ is a matter of perception. Communities feeling a sense of helplessness and perceiving a failing of government to provide a safe and secure community contribute to a perception of a crime ‘crisis’.^[8]

Media has consistently (mis)represented ‘crime’ in ways that inform and distort popular ‘knowledge’. ‘Crime’ and media-induced fear/anxiety has always been present.^[9] The public’s perception of crime is distorted by the media’s coverage of crime in general. Particularly violent crimes appear ubiquitous due to intense coverage. This saturation predominantly of violent crimes generates fear and a distorted sense of actual safety – two key indicators of moral panic existing.^[10]

These highly overstated fears typically focus on gang activities and juveniles. Highlighting tragedy^[11] and gore develops “potent mechanisms for creating and sustaining cultures of fear”.^[12] These cases are often viewed as “graphic illustrations of defective and deficient control systems”.^[13] The perception of a juvenile crime ‘crisis’ amid heightened public debate sees juveniles demonised and leads to some viewing juveniles rights and the rights of victims of crime as “an either-or proposition”.^[14]

Racism can serve a political purpose. Thus, portraying a link between ethnicity and crime has and will continue to be utilised for political purposes to create a moral panic and advance ‘law and order’ or ‘tough on crime’ agendas to seek an electoral advantage. It is a known political dynamic that inevitably leads to poor public policy.^[15]

Racist ‘scripts’ are used by media to expand and heighten public fear through depicting racial minorities involvement in crime.^[16] This depiction includes creating and exacerbating moral panics regarding youth gangs and of associations between immigrants and crime.^[17] Political and media discourse emphasise that immigrant youth are different, with distinct cultures that share different values, and at times, their ethnicity and culture is inherently violent.^[18] Claims are made inferring that immigrants fail to integrate. Furthermore, portrayals of ethnic youth gangs exemplify that the time period an immigrant family has lived in their new country is irrelevant, with their ‘otherness’ used to designate them as outsiders and dangerous threats to society.^[19]

Moral panic created by media and politics has been utilised as a foundation for anti-immigrant political campaigns. Xenophobic attitudes are consistently employed in these agendas to further highlight that ethnic groups are ‘different’ and do not share values consistent with the rest of the population.^[20] In Australia, political parties displaying xenophobic populism are continually supported including Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.^[21]

Populism is defined as “a political ideology that advocates citizen control of government, government policies that support the interest of average citizens rather than the interest of an elite few, and, often by extension, democratic political institutions”.^[22]

A global surge in populism is evident with political parties gaining support for emphasising anti-elite sentiment, stricter migration controls, and censuring minority groups for being responsible for societal problems.^[23]

Populist support in Australia is increasing with more voters being disillusioned and supporting minor parties.^[24] Populist attitudes correlate with dissatisfaction of the functioning of liberal democracy, and negative attitudes towards Indigenous peoples.^[25] Australian’s declining trust in government and cultural insecurity reflects backlash against issues that move away from ‘traditional Australia’ including migration.^[26] Minor party voters generally believe that Australia’s economic and political institutions require ‘fundamental change’.^[27] They generally do not believe that government understands or cares about ordinary people’s needs, trust politicians less, and are less satisfied with democracy.^[28]

Populism is implicitly understood to be a negative and dangerous phenomenon, corrupting normal, healthy democratic politics through manipulation, shallowness, and demagoguery.^[29] It is tacitly dismissed as an “intrinsically reactionary ... pathological form of politics”.^[30] Populism is broadly viewed in literature as a “negative and inherently punitive influence on criminal justice policy”.^[31] That view is adopted in this paper.

Penal populism encompasses increasingly punitive sentencing and growing use of imprisonment and social controls.^[32] It results from interactions between media and politics combined with the perceived demand of society for punitive policy.^[33] The embracing of penal populism has seen a rise in unanimity across political parties regarding the need for “overtly harsh and stigmatising measures against crime”.^[34]

Politicians create moral panic in pursuing an electoral advantage, facilitating a ‘climate’ where harsh punitive measures are ‘embraced’ by the public and ‘adopted as solutions’ by Parliament. This self-perpetuating cycle operates with minimal regard for the effectiveness of such policies, nor the evidence regarding crime and measures that may perform to combat its effects.^[35] Public opinion is constructed, and not a “naturally occurring phenomenon”. The media play a vital role in forming it and claim to reflect it.^[36]

“In political discourse young people tend to be a perennial source of anxiety”.^[37] This is because there is almost a “totemic status” ascribed whereby the “state of youth” is utilised to indicate the “equilibrium or instability of the social order”.^[38]

Populist discourses around juvenile justice along with public representations of juvenile offenders are shaped and structured by numerous forums in multiple ways. Portrayals disseminated by the media are only one forum utilised.^[39]

Populism in power manifests into a greater tendency to politicise by using juvenile justice as an instrument and ground to battle opponents. In doing so, governments prioritise their incentives and considerations over external ones.^[40] “Populist practices contribute to enable or constrain certain policy choices”.^[41]

Politicising criminal justice policy is counterproductive, undermining rational policy discussion.^[42] The emotive and rhetorical style of penal populism should be abnegated for a more rational crime policy debate in alternative forums with tabloid journalism and electoral politics absent.^[43]

Juvenile crime statistics in Australian jurisdictions over time demonstrate a level of stability that is not mirrored by media coverage of the issue. Key statistics are tabulated below:

Media reporting of juvenile crime across Australia is replete with examples of ‘moral panic’. Juvenile crime is rarely reported on without reference to a ‘crisis’.

Regional crime in NSW is becoming a greater issue. The tendency of regional communities to “experience higher rates of crime than in the city” combined with crime reductions in Sydney having exceeded those in the regions over the last 20 years, has continued to widen the gap that has been a “longstanding feature of crime in NSW”.^[49] A “spike” in offending in regional towns, particularly of violent crimes, has fuelled a moral panic.^[5]

Headlines include: “Regional Aussies liken youth crime spree to living in ‘warzone’”^[51], “Moree locals ‘living in fear’ of violent crimes”^[52], “NSW town of Tahmoor ‘abandoned by police’ amid rising youth crime”^[53], “The city ‘living in fear’ as youth crime wave plays out on TikTok”^[54], “‘Incapable of evil’: Court rule fuelling youth bush crime wave”^[55], “‘Not enough’: North Coast youth crime, violence reaches breaking point”^[56], “Youth crime is out of control but nobody is taking responsibility”^[57], and “Dubbo youth crime: city missing out as ‘crisis’ deepens”^[58]. In announcing new measures, the article “NRL stars answer police SOS in fight against rural crime”^[59] is prefaced “NRL players will head to the bush ... to show their support for police trying to turn the tide on the frightening rise in serious crimes”.^[60]

Further evidence of a media-induced moral panic includes where comments contrary to a ‘crisis’ existing are criticised. Dubbo’s Mayor was criticised for claiming it is a state not a local issue, and that there is no juvenile crime ‘crisis’. The article “NSW youth crime: Dubbo mayor slammed for crime wave stance”^[61] was prefaced “Dubbo’s mayor has been labelled a ‘disgrace’ for his attitude to youth crime in the town. He says crime is “not limited to Dubbo” and that it’s the state government’s problem to solve”.^[62] Conversely, Moree’s Mayor has been supported by the media due to his acknowledgement of a ‘crisis’ with headlines including “NSW mayor sounds alarm as crime skyrockets”.^[63]

Vigilantism is also being implicitly encouraged. The Daily Telegraph, a major newspaper, suggests intervention from residents is needed as “crime is exploding in regional areas”.^[64]

A ‘tough on crime’ approach has created significant issues in Queensland. The ‘crisis’ is not improving, and juvenile detention rates are increasing. There is a group of offenders undeterred from reoffending.^[65]

Headlines include: “Dear Premier: Enough is Enough on Qld youth crime crisis”^[66], “‘Soft, woke’: Calls to ‘bring back Campbell’ as crime runs rampant”^[67], “Worse than Bikies”^[68], “‘I’m scared’: Ex-premier who faced down bikies fears armed kids more”^[69], and “Northside Gang worse than Bikies”^[70].

Media conveys a sentiment of community anger with victims of crime and protestors perceived as in upheaval over laws not being tough enough. Headlines include: “Queensland victims of crime collective slams ‘system abuse’ which they say favours young offenders”.^[71] The article “Protesters call for ‘zero tolerance’ on youth crime”^[72] notes “victims of crime have demanded answers to why youth offending continues to skyrocket in [Queensland]”. Protestor’s posters comprise messages including “Youth crime out of control Premier all talk and no action”.^[73] The public can share their experiences of juvenile delinquency in their area and sign a petition to their Member of Parliament online.^[74] Vigilantism is also occurring.^[75]

The ‘African gangs’ phenomena in Melbourne was a clear example of media and politicians perpetuating a moral panic. It also epitomised a “politically-fuelled, anti-immigrant media campaign”.^[76]

After the ‘Moomba riots’ in 2016, media continued reporting that ‘youth gangs of African appearance’ were “terrorising neighbourhoods”.^[77] This heightened the public’s fear of crime and further reinforced ethnic prejudices.^[78] Increases in reported racism and institutionalised forms of discrimination against the African community were the result of a heavily politicised ‘law and order crisis’ which media reports emphasised an existing conflation between blackness and criminality.^[79]

Headlines included: “African gang crime ‘out of control’ in Melbourne: Greg Hunt”^[80], “15 and out of control – Exclusive – young teens drive violent crime wave”^[81], and “Victorians scared to go to restaurants at night because of street gang violence: Peter Dutton”^[82].

The Coalition opposition used the phenomena as an opportunity to create and maintain a fictional narrative whilst attacking the government. Shadow Attorney-General John Pesutto said “there is a real crisis. Daniel Andrews, premier, and his ministers are acting as though there’s nothing to worry about, and that’s really infuriating communities around Melbourne.” Furthermore, the government and Police were “pretending there was no problem”.^[83]

The federal Coalition government also assisted in fuelling a moral panic. Peter Dutton, then Home Affairs Minister, said “you look at some of the jokes of sentences that are being handed down, there's no deterrence at the moment”.^[84] He attacked the judiciary for “pathetically weak” decisions made by some magistrates.^[85] Greg Hunt, then Health Minister, and Member for Flinders, also said “Gang crime in Victoria is clearly out of control. We know that African gang crime in some areas in particular is clearly out of control.”^[86] “The failure is not the Police, but the Premier”.^[87]

The juvenile offenders involved were recognised as a small number of repeat offenders, not ‘gangs’ perpetrating crime.^[88] African youth leaders, then Police Minister Lisa Neville, and Victoria Police all shared this view.^[89]

Victoria Police attempted to reduce the moral panic’s impact. They publicly expressed caution around using the term “gang crime” to describe the criminal activity as the core group of juveniles allegedly involved were not involved in organised crime.^[90] Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp urged the media not to use the term “gangs” and said the Victoria Police was “well and truly on top of” youth crime in Victoria.^[91] Police also acknowledged the complex root causes of criminality in African communities including “disadvantage, unemployment, and disengagement from society”.^[92]

V EFFECT OF ‘MORAL PANIC’ AND ‘POPULIST POLITICISATION’ ON LEGISLATION AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

There is a poignancy in considering that the rate of incarceration is “not a badge of success, it’s a stench of failure”.^[93] The continued ‘tough on crime’ approach reflects an obsession with punishing a child, rather than holding governments and child protection agencies to account for not helping. Children are labelled as the problem/failure/issue to deal with, while the systems they are caught up in are not.^[94]

The criminal justice system has been described as “a hopelessly blunt instrument of social policy, and its implementation by the courts is a totally inadequate substitute for improved education, health, housing and employment for Aboriginal communities”.^[95] It is no more useful in reducing juvenile crime for similar reasons. The social determinants of crime are a significant issue for vulnerable children. There is a “need to be looking beneath the surface of youth crime, not just cutting the top off of the problem when it is politically expedient”.^[96]

There is concern over the contradiction between “evidence-based good practice and youth justice and what the public expects youth justice to do”.^[97] Media’s portrayal of a “revolving door”^[98] is really the failure of “tough” punitive approaches and increased risk of reoffending by juveniles who have been placed in detention.^[99] “There is an abundance of evidence that kneejerk responses only serve to turbocharge injustice by pipelining and trapping more children in prisons”.^[100]

Cunneen, White and Richards succinctly outline how ‘moral panic’ feeds ‘populist politicisation’ as the “intersection between media reporting and the political use of community fears over law and order constructs a certain reality that inhibits our understanding of the nature of juvenile offending and constrains our perception of possible responses”.^[101] The portrayal of community development and social justice strategies as ineffectual and ‘soft’ contrarily see mandatory sentencing, increased police powers, and restrictions on community-based sentences appearing popular.^[102] The media’s role in characterising juveniles as delinquents can create tangible results including legislative change and changes in policing practices.^[103] Legislative changes are being made to “placate the community rather than to have an impact”.^[104]

The effects of ‘moral panic’ and ‘populist politicisation’ within these three jurisdictions is analysed through the aforementioned examples.

New initiatives announced by the government in March target juvenile crime. Inequities in other areas though are not being addressed to enable a wider response to regional crime.^[105] The most recent punitive measures introduced will increase the number of children in detention by restricting juveniles’ ability to obtain bail.^[106] This is in addition to a high-visibility police operation.^[107]

On 21 March 2024, NSW Parliament passed a Bill^[108] that amends the Bail Act^[109] “to provide for a temporary limitation on granting bail for certain young persons in relation to certain serious offences”and amends the Crimes Act^[110] to “provide for a new offence in relation to performance crimes”.^[111]

The government proposed the changes in response to “growing community fears over youth crime, especially in regional areas like Moree”.^[112] The Aboriginal Legal Service heavily criticised these changes, saying the government is “choosing to let fear dictate their government policy”.^[113]

The Law Society of NSW highlighted concerns of the legal profession regarding this Bill.^[114] They made several key points including that “Parliament is prepared to, in effect, sacrifice a cohort of children and young people to the long-term criminogenic effects of incarceration”.^[115] Its principal position is that “any proposal to make accessing bail more difficult for [juveniles] is a retrograde step”.^[116]

Arthur Moses SC, former President of the NSW Bar Association and Law Council of Australia, encapsulates the lack of consideration given to these latest changes, saying “[i]t is regrettable that the NSW Parliament has literally tripped over themselves to rush in these bail laws within days because of adverse publicity with no proper consideration”.^[117]

Focusing on regional crime exacerbates the issue of Indigenous incarceration rates. A targeted response in Moree is being used as a pilot for addressing similar concerns in other regional communities.^[118] Almost 22% of Moree’s 9,000 residents are Indigenous.^[119] Indigenous people represented only 3.4% of the NSW population in 2021,^[120] but the Indigenous imprisonment rate in NSW is nearly 10 times the non-Indigenous imprisonment rate.^[121]

These bail changes evince the government ignoring evidence-based measures in favour of a ‘tough on crime’ approach which the Premier has admitted will lead to more Indigenous juveniles being incarcerated.^[122] Simultaneously, the introduction of a “post and boast offence”^[123] can be viewed as a measure to absolve the government and Police of embarrassment from criticism for being ‘soft on crime’ and “allowing crime to flourish”.^[124]

It is feared that NSW could follow Queensland in a “race to the bottom”.^[125] A lack of focus on therapeutic responses and the need for the government to defend their new laws so emphatically is concerning.^[126]

Policing practices have been scrutinised recently with findings about the Suspect Targeting Management Plan (STMP) program being released. A “pattern of intensified police harassment” was identified in 2013.^[127] No information was publicly available until lawyers and researchers published findings in 2017 highlighting the impact of the STMP on juveniles.^[128]

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission began independently investigating in 2018. Operation Tepito’s final report in October 2023 found the STMP “is, or may be, unreasonable, unjust, oppressive or improperly discriminatory in its effect on [juveniles]”.^[129] It specified significant concerns with the application of the STMP on juveniles with observations that STMP-related policing interactions with juveniles “were, or may have, been unlawful”.^[130] NSW Police ceased using the STMP on juveniles in September 2023 to avoid a formal finding of agency misadministration.^[131]

Recent protests suggest a community perception of a ‘crisis’ over the government’s ‘inability’ to adequately deal with juvenile crime, particularly repeat offenders.^[132] A strong push to “crack down on youth crime” has seen a raft of measures introduced by the government targeting juvenile offenders. Queensland’s government in attempting to quell accusations about not being ‘tough on crime’ has now overridden their Human Rights Act.^[133]

In March 2023, various amendments were made to Queensland’s Youth Justice Act,^[134] Criminal Code^[135], Police Powers Act,^[136] and Bail Act^[137].^[138] Eight amendments to the Youth Justice Act included the extension and expansion of trialling electronic monitoring devices as a condition of bail, and a requirement for courts to take into account a juvenile’s bail history when sentencing. The Criminal Code amendment introduced a circumstance of aggravation for publishing “boastful material of their behaviour on social media”.^[139] The Bail Act was amended to make it an offence for a child to breach a condition of their bail.

In August 2023, amendments to the Youth Justice Act make lawful the practice of holding children in police watchhouses until places become available in youth detention centres and providing a human rights override declaration to allow it to occur until December 2026, and to allow the establishment of new youth detention centres until December 2026.^[140]

Increased high-visibility policing is also occurring. A “youth crime crackdown” through Taskforce Guardian between May 2023 and February 2024 saw over 1,000 arrests made during over 50 deployments across Queensland.^[141]

As the government maintains a ‘tough on crime’ approach, focusing particularly on repeat offenders, the ‘chronic offending population’ continues to grow.^[142] In April 2023, the rate of unique youth and adult offenders was the lowest on record. However, the cohort of repeat offenders are committing more offences, leading to increased crime rates. In implementing further tougher new laws, targeting this cohort, the Police Minister Mark Ryan said, “[t]he government makes no apology for doing this”.^[143]

The government continues to premise their ‘tough on crime’ approach to juvenile delinquency on the need to reflect community expectation. The Police Minister has defended the laws and their effects, including nation-leading rates of juvenile incarceration, saying “[t]here has to be consequence for action and when you have tough laws, which are a reflection of what the community’s expectation is, then ultimately you do have more people in custody”.^[144] They have also dismissed concerns raised by government reports,^[145] saying that they instead show that the laws are operating as intended.^[146] The increase in incarceration therefore is driven “by political, policy, and legislative choices”.^[147]

An ABC article considered the statistics of Sudanese people in Victoria. Crime statistics to June 2017 showed 98 aggravated burglaries allegedly involved Sudanese-born offenders compared to 540 Australian-born offenders whilst 45 serious assaults allegedly involved Sudanese-born offenders compared to 1,462 Australian-born offenders. Census data revealed that Sudanese-born individuals comprised approximately 1% of Victoria’s population at the time.^[148]

Research infers policing practices changed in response to the moral panic. Young African Australians reported being targeted by Police, particularly in public spaces. In 2019, Operation Liege which targeted youth offenders, saw 57 young African Australians arrested. Most were released without charge, or their charges were later dropped. The operation made headlines, but the number not charged nor convicted did not.^[149]

This moral panic even caused several Melbourne schools to ban South Sudanese students from congregating in groups of three or more.^[150]

“Labelling theorists have ... focused attention on the ways that social control agencies react can in fact create and lead to further deviant behaviour”.^[151] Nationality, race, and cultural background have become a defining feature in crime coverage whilst the whiteness of other offenders is “essentially ignored and rendered invisible”.^[152] Racial labels implicate all Africans in violent crime and perniciously link race and behaviour. Other complex factors contributing to crime are ignored whilst offenders’ race is the only aspect of their identity mentioned in media reports, implying a causal link with their behaviour.^[153] Young offenders’ backgrounds are used as a source of “cultural incompatibility”.^[154]

Skewed racial perceptions of crime generated by moral panic have been utilised to implement further harsh, biased policies that are ‘tough on crime’.^[155] Despite most offenders being white, the ‘frame’ that continues to be reinforced is that the “existing dominant society is rational, virtuous and mature” whilst the “non-white, newly arrived ‘problem group’ are warlike, less civilised, ‘hunting in packs’ and prone to violence”.^[156]

Media coverage constructs and reinforces this perception, and strong associations of crime with racial minorities, by exhibiting people of colour differently to whites including disproportionately depicting whites as victims and racial/ethnic minorities as criminal suspects. This perception subsequently manifests in heightened fear of victimisation by these minorities.^[157]

It is palpable that juvenile delinquency continues subjected to a ‘tough on crime’ approach. Government decisions are reactionary to media reporting to appease the public. They do not consider or wilfully ignore evidence supporting alternative methods of dealing with juvenile delinquency. They continue avoiding known issues and causes of juvenile delinquency and the social determinants that contribute to offending. Many offenders are eventually incarcerated because of “the lack of options and opportunity to change”.^[158] Thus, suggesting that the juvenile justice system is a reflection of political rather than penological interests is plausible.

The development and implementation of “a national strategy aimed at replacing the detention of children in penal facilities with non-custodial solutions based upon broad consultation with experts, civil society and children themselves” appears to be an extremely optimistic vision.^[159]

Across Australian jurisdictions, statistics make apparent the relative stability of juvenile crime rates. Examples of moral panic created by the media do not accurately reflect juvenile crime statistics and their fluctuations. Percentages are used in attempts to highlight and portray significant increases in juvenile crime. Subsequent government responses to a ‘youth crime crisis’ are typically ‘knee-jerk reactions’ which are generally detrimental to improving outcomes. These responses are fuelled by media reporting with inflammatory headlines regarding juvenile crime inevitably triggering governments to respond to public demands/expectations.

The racialised, discriminatory nature of policing is exacerbated by media problematising.^[160] By focusing on regional crime, the risk of Indigenous children becoming engaged in the criminal justice system is heightened. African Australians in Victoria continue to feel the effects of public perceptions reported by the media.^[161] “Media are not the cause of racism, but they do have the power to shift public attitudes and increase understanding in society”.^[162]

Ultimately, this paper evinces ‘moral panic’ and ‘populist politicisation’ as very useful concepts in understanding shifts in juvenile justice law and policy in Australia.

* LLM (Criminal Justice & Criminology; Dispute Resolution) student, University of New South Wales, GDLP, College of Law, BCom (Mgnt) dist / LLB, University of Wollongong.

** The author would like to acknowledge and thank Professor Barry Goldson PhD FAcSS for his support, feedback on this paper, and insight on this topic.

¹ David Garland, The Culture of Control (Oxford University Press, 1st ed, 2001) 172-173.

^[4] Zach Hope, ‘Power and the Passion: Why Youth Crime Drives Queensland Wild’, Brisbane Times (online, 21 February 2023) <https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/power-and-the-passion-why-youth-crime-drives-queensland-wild-20230221-p5cm6o.html>.

^[7] Selda Dagistanli, ‘Boys Like Them: the Role of Courts in Moral Panics around “Muslim” Gang Rape’ (PhD Thesis, University of Western Sydney, 2007) 267 <https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws%3A11209/datastream/PDF/download/citation.pdf>; Stuart Hall et al, Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order (Macmillan, 1st ed, 1978) 223-227.

^[8] Terry Goldsworthy, Gaelle Brotto and Tyler Cawthray, ‘Is Australia in the Grips of a Youth Crime Crisis? This is what the Data says’, The Conversation (online, 30 October 2023) <https://theconversation.com/is-australia-in-the-grips-of-a-youth-crime-crisis-this-is-what-the-data-says-213655>.

^[9] Geoffrey Pearson, Hooligan: A History of Respectable Fears (Macmillan, 1st ed, 1983).

^[10] Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre, ‘Inquiry into Migrant Settlement Outcomes’ (Submission, No 41, 2016) 1 <https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=adbc0ef7-692f-4506-9a61-dc0da0ae0cb0&subId=463076>.

^[11] For example, the high-profile deaths of Emma Lovell, Robert Brown, and Scott Cabrie in Queensland. See Hope (n 4); Aidan Wondracz, ‘The Tragic Faces of Queensland’s Youth Crime Crisis: Eleven Victims the State’s Crackdown on Young Offenders has come too Late for’, Daily Mail Australia (online, 21 February 2023) <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11774101/Queensland-victims-youth-crime-wave-revealed-calls-grow-tougher-action.html>.

^[12] Barry Goldson (ed), Youth in Crisis? ‘Gangs’, Territoriality and Violence (Routledge, 1st ed, 2011) 4.

^[14] Ben Smee, ‘Violent and Vulnerable: Ricky, 14, has been to Jail 15 Times. In Queensland’s Youth Justice System, he Lost Hope’ The Guardian (online, 07 June 2023) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/07/violent-and-vulnerable-ricky-14-has-been-to-jail-15-times-in-queenslands-youth-justice-system-he-lost-hope>.

^[17] Kathryn Benier and Angela Higginson, ‘The Myth of Australia’s Migrant Youth Gang: Examining the Perceived Association between Ethnicity and Gangs’ [2024] Journal of Youth Studies 1, 2.

^[19] Ibid. This is exemplified by ‘African gangs’ in Victoria within the last decade.

^[21] Richard DeAngelis, ‘Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party: Xenophobic Populism Compared’ (1998) 16(1) Policy, Organisation and Society 1, 5; Michał Krzyżanowski, ‘Discursive Shifts and the Normalisation of Racism: Imaginaries of Immigration, Moral Panics and the Discourse of Contemporary Right-Wing Populism’ (2020) 30(4) Social Semiotics 503, 507.

^[22] Randall G Holcombe, ‘Populism’ (2021) 26(1) The Independent Review 27.

^[23] Rachel Kleinfeld et al, ‘Why is Populism so Popular?’, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Web Page, 31 January 2024) <https://carnegieendowment.org/2024/01/31/why-is-populism-so-popular-pub-91446>.

^[24] Danielle Wood, John Daley and Carmela Chivers, ‘Australia Demonstrates the Rise of Populism is About More than Economics’ (2018) 51(3) Australian Economic Review 399 <https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Wood_et_al-2018-Australian_Economic_Review.pdf>.

^[25] Glenn Kefford et al, ‘Populist Attitudes in Australia: Contextualising the Demand-Side’ (2023) 58(1) Australian Journal of Political Science 53.

^[27] Ibid 406 citing Essential Research, ‘Australian Society’, The Essential Report Archive (Web Page, 30 January 2018) <https://essentialvision.com.au/australian-society-3>.

^[28] Ibid citing Ian McAllister, Sarah Cameron, and Jill Sheppard, ‘2016 Australian Election Study’, Australian National University School of Politics and International Relations (Web Page, 17 January 2017) <https://politicsir.cass.anu.edu.au/news/2016-australian-election-study>.

^[29] Russell Hogg, ‘Punishment and ‘the People’: Rescuing Populism from its Critics’ in Matthew Ball, Juan Tauri, Erin O’Brien and Kerry Carrington (eds), Crime, Justice and Social Democracy: International Perspectives [Critical Criminological Perspectives] (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) 105.

^[30] Russell Hogg, ‘Populism, Law and Order and the Crimes of the 1%’ (2013) 2(1) International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy 113, 114 citing Julian V Roberts et al, Penal Populism and Public Opinion - Lessons from Five Countries (Oxford University Press, 2003); Arie Freiberg and Karen Gelb (eds) Penal Populism, Sentencing Councils and Sentencing Policy (Hawkins Press, 2008); Tim Bale, Stijn Van Kessel and Peter Taggart, ‘Thrown Around with Abandon? Popular Understandings of Populism as Conveyed by the Print Media: A UK Case Study’ (2011) 46(2) Acta-Politica 111; Peter Hartcher, The Sweet Spot – How Australia Made its Own Luck and Could Now Throw it all Away (Black Inc, 2011) ch16.

^[32] Will Jennings, et al, ‘Penal Populism and the Public Thermostat: Crime, Public Punitiveness and Public Policy’ (Conference Paper, P.S.A. Elections, Public Opinion and Parties Specialist Group Annual Conference, 2015) 2 <https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/1130736/Penal-Populism-and-the-Public-Thermostat-Crime-Public-Punitiveness-and-Public-Policy-Will-Jennings.pdf>.

^[39] Barry Goldson et al, Youth Justice and Youth Penality in a Comparative Context (Routledge, 2021) 47.

^[40] David Cadier, ‘Foreign Policy as the Continuation of Domestic Politics by Other Means: Pathways and Patterns of Populist Politicization’ (2024) 20(1) Foreign Policy Analysis 1.

^[41] David Cadier, ‘Populist Politics of Representation and Foreign Policy: Evidence from Poland’ (2021) 19(6) Comp Eur Polit 703.

^[42] Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia, ‘Value of a Justice Reinvestment Approach to Criminal Justice in Australia’ (Submission, No 54, 2013) 5 <https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=2950d018-9b0e-4ac8-a007-4783f97fb3fb>.

^[43] Quilter (n 31) citing Neil Hutton, ‘Institutional Mechanisms for Incorporating the Public’ in Arie Freiberg and Karen Gelb (eds) Penal Populism, Sentencing Councils and Sentencing Policy (Hawkins Press, 2008).

^[49] Romy Stephens, ‘Gap Widens between Sydney and Regional NSW Crime Rates amid Calls for Greater Intervention’, ABC News (Web Page, 14 March 2024) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-14/sydney-and-regional-crime-rate-gap-grows/103576526>.

NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data regarding regional patterns of juvenile offending evinces increased offending in regional areas compared to the city.

⁵⁰ For example, Samantha Lock, ‘Premier Heads Out Bush to Tackle Youth Crime’, National Indigenous Times (online, 3 April 2024) <https://nit.com.au/03-04-2024/10606/premier-heads-out-bush-to-tackle-youth-crime>.

^[51] James Wilson, ‘Regional Aussies liken Youth Crime Spree to Living in ‘Warzone’”, A Current Affair (Web Page, July 2023) <https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/regional-nsw-residents-liken-youth-crime-spree-to-living-in-warzone/2700ff07-847c-4fc3-aa6f-c4130b2f28a8>.

^[52] ‘Moree Locals ‘Living in Fear’ of Violent Crimes’, Daily Telegraph (online, 19 March 2024) <https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/crime-wave-terrorising-northern-nsw-town-of-moree-leaves-locals-living-in-fear-of-violence/news-story/ad649eb3f431a7ce77ec806135910a58>.

^[53] Dominique Tassell, ‘NSW Town of Tahmoor ‘Abandoned by Police’ amid Rising Youth Crime’, 7 News (Web Page, 28 March 2024) <https://7news.com.au/news/nsw-town-of-tahmoor-abandoned-by-police-amid-rising-youth-crime-c-14107905>.

^[54] ‘The City ‘Living in Fear’ as Youth Crime Wave Plays Out on TikTok’, Daily Telegraph (online, 12 March 2024) <https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/the-city-living-in-fear-as-youth-crime-wave-plays-out-on-tiktok/news-story/c0d8e4e56a31c1b3e9b6dce78e8bc2bc>.

^[55] ‘‘Incapable of Evil’: Court Rule Fuelling Youth Bush Crime Wave’, Daily Telegraph (online, 5 March 2024) <https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-nsw/lets-go-do-some-doli-young-kids-fuelling-bush-crime-wave-due-to-court-rule/news-story/14e719bf23e0f70a5d7a883e3acf650a>.

^[56] ‘‘Not Enough’: North Coast Youth Crime, Violence Reaches Breaking Point’, Daily Telegraph (online, 18 March 2024) <https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/ballina/ballina-calls-for-tougher-laws-on-youth-glamorising-crime-at-second-community-meeting-in-a-month/news-story/873b1fd324abc1833044dc0852bd9f27>.

^[57] Samantha Townsend, Youth Crime is Out of Control but Nobody is Taking Responsibility’, The Land (online, 6 March 2024) <https://www.theland.com.au/story/8545730/regional-nsw-youth-crime-crisis/>.

^[58] Allison Hore and Ciara Bastow, ‘‘Afraid to Admit’ we have a ‘Crisis’: Dubbo needs Help with Youth Crime’, Daily Liberal (online, 26 March 2024) <https://www.dailyliberal.com.au/story/8561989/dubbo-youth-crime-city-missing-out-as-crisis-deepens/>.

^[59] ‘NRL Stars Answer Police SOS in Fight against Rural Crime’, Daily Telegraph (online, 30 March 2024) <https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/nrl-stars-recruited-as-secret-weapons-in-fight-against-bush-crime/news-story/c2acb52066aad9a9735733ce2e244be2>.

^[60] Ibid.

^[61] ‘NSW Youth Crime: Dubbo Mayor Slammed for Crime Wave Stance’, Daily Telegraph (online, 17 March 2024) <https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/what-crime-problem-dubbo-mayor-isnt-really-listening-critics-claim/news-story/6ccaf553b832e91c717d4ff985499450>.

^[62] Ibid.

^[63] ‘NSW Mayor Sounds Alarm as Crime Skyrockets’, Cairns Post (online) <https://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/nsw/moree-shire-mayor-mark-johnson-says-petty-crime-turning-into-violent-crime-in-northern-nsw-town/news-story/b1b863c64e6c8ea1eb23b2028cec03c8>.

^[64] One example is a group of mothers in Tamworth who conducted a three-day stakeout after a motorbike was stolen from one of their sons. See ‘Tamworth Vigilante Mums taking the Law into their own Hands’, Daily Telegraph (online, 28 March 2024) <https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-nsw/tamworth-vigilante-mums-taking-the-law-into-their-own-hands/news-story/4cc0d8c2b7cca0c765509fe30462005e>.

^[65] Queensland Government, ‘Rate of Unique Youth and Adult Offenders Lowest on Record’ (Media Release, 6 April 2023) <https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/97530>.

^[66] ‘Dear Premier: Enough is Enough on Qld Youth Crime Crisis’, Courier Mail (online, 21 February 2023) <https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/labors-youthcrime-strategy-a-bandaid-solution-that-will-do-literally-nothing-say-experts/news-story/5a188ede2cf3c79fd79ae2d6417c44ef>.

^[67] ‘‘Soft, woke’: Calls to ‘Bring back Campbell’ as Crime runs Rampant’, Courier Mail (online 20 February 2024) <https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/qld-youth-crime-crisis-soft-woke-out-of-touch-miles-government-slammed-over-measures/news-story/439bd832f25d95e112a0dc7fe41f7020>.

^[68] An image of the Courier Mail front page on 5 March 2023. See Pam Barker, ‘Now More then Ever we must Stand Together as a Community, to End the Vilification of Young People’ (LinkedIn, 2023) <https://www.linkedin.com/posts/pammbarker_now-more-then-ever-we-must-stand-together-activity-7037982206417412096-n4fV>.

^[69] ‘‘I’m Scared’: Ex-Premier who Faced Down Bikies Fears Armed Kids More’, Courier Mail (online, 5 March 2023) <https://www.couriermail.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-qld/im-ready-for-them-to-come-through-my-back-window-newmans-youth-fears/news-story/a782b260cbbc189548a291683f73e821>.

^[70] ‘Queensland News: Northside Gang ‘Worse than Bikies’’, 9 News (Web Page, 12 February 2020) <https://www.9news.com.au/videos/queensland-news-northside-gang-worse-than-bikies/ck6iu0oa0000c0mrx4ku47x0j>.

^[71] Antonia O'Flaherty and Rachel Riga, ‘Queensland Victims of Crime Collective Slams ‘System Abuse’ which they say Favours Young Offenders’, ABC News (Web Page, 21 February 2023) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-21/youth-crime-letter-palaszczuk-goverment-queensland/102001732>.

^[72] Aisling Brennan, ‘Protesters Call for ‘Zero Tolerance’ on Youth Crime’, News.com.au (Web Page, 23 August 2023) <https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/politics/protesters-call-for-zero-tolerance-on-youth-crime/news-story/52d9c2ef69cc42fcfcf76a074531a115>.

^[73] Ibid.

^[74] Stop the QLD Youth Crime (Web Page, 2022) <https://stopqldyouthcrime.com.au/>.

‘#StopQLDYouthCrime’ is also being used across social media platforms.

^[75] For example, in Rockhampton. See Ben Smee, ‘Mob Surrounding Rockhampton Home Blocked by Police amid Tensions over Youth Crime’, The Guardian (online, 8 May 2023) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/08/mob-surrounding-rockhampton-home-blocked-by-police-amid-tensions-over-youth>.

^[76] Benier and Angela Higginson (n 17) 2.

^[77] Ibid.

^[78] Ibid; Kathryn Benier et al, ‘‘Don’t Drag us into This’: Growing up South Sudanese Victoria after the 2016 Moomba ‘Riot’’ (Report, Melbourne Centre for Multicultural Youth, October 2018) <https://researchmgt.monash.edu/ws/portalfiles/portal/253671904/Don_t_Drag_Me_Into_This_Research_Report_Oct_2018.pdf>; Greg Koumouris and Jarrett Blaustein, ‘Reporting ‘African Gangs’: Theorising Journalistic Practice During a Multi-Mediated Moral Panic’ (2022) 18(1) Crime, Media, Culture 105.

^[79] Benier and Higginson (n 17) 2; Kathryn Benier, Rebecca Wickes and Claire Moran, ‘‘African Gangs’ in Australia: Perceptions of Race and Crime in Urban Neighbourhoods’ (2021) 54(2) Journal of Criminology 220; Mandisi Majavu, ‘The ‘African Gangs’ Narrative: Associating Blackness with Criminality and Other Anti-Black Racist Tropes in Australia’ (2020) 13(1) African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal 27.

^[80] Brad Ryan, ‘African Gang Crime ‘Out of Control’ in Melbourne: Greg Hunt’, ABC News (Web Page, 1 January 2018) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-01/african-gang-crime-out-of-control-in-melbourne-minister-says/9296476>.

^[81] ‘15 and Out of Control – Exclusive – Young Teens Drive Violent Crime Wave’, Herald Sun (online, 18 July 2016) <https://heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/youth-crime-15yearolds-victorias-most-prolific-young-criminals/news-story/972b832882d8bdb401e8b67ad81e8a11>; Image of Herald Sun front page on 19 July 2016, see Marie McInerney, ‘NT’s Don Dale Footage Reminds us the End Result of a ‘Tough on Crime’ Approach to Children’ Croakey Health Media (Web Page, 3 August 2016) <https://www.croakey.org/nts-don-dale-footage-reminds-us-the-end-result-of-a-tough-on-crime-approach-to-children/>.

^[82] Fergus Hunter and Benjamin Preiss, ‘Victorians Scared to go to Restaurants at Night Because of Street Gang Violence: Peter Dutton’, Sydney Morning Herald (online, 3 January 2018) <https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/victorians-scared-to-go-to-restaurants-at-night-because-of-street-gang-violence-peter-dutton-20180103-h0cvu4.html>.

^[83] Christopher Knaus, ‘Victorian Opposition Stokes Rhetoric on Alleged African Youth Gang Crime’, The Guardian (online, 2 January 2018) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/02/victorian-opposition-rhetoric-alleged-african-youth-gang>.

^[84] Hunter and Preiss (n 82).

^[85] Ibid.

^[86] Ryan (n 80).

^[87] Ibid.

^[88] ‘Explainer: Does Melbourne have a street gang problem?’, Sydney Morning Herald (online, 2 January 2018) <https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/explainer-does-melbourne-have-a-street-gang-problem-20180102-h0cku6.html>.

^[89] Ibid; Hunter and Preiss (n 82).

^[90] Hunter and Preiss (n 82).

^[91] Knaus (n 83).

^[92] Ibid; Ben Graham, ‘Police Chief says Force ‘Not Afraid’ to Call Out Youth Violence’, News.com.au (Web Page, 29 December 2017) <https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/crime/police-chief-says-force-not-afraid-to-call-out-youth-violence/news-story/a2b82b83e893550723d5de588890762b>.

^[93] Kate McKenna, ‘The Palaszczuk Government has become Engulfed in a Political Storm of its Own Making’, ABC News (Web Page, 26 August 2023) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-26/palaszczuk-government-watch-houses-laws-political-storm/102777748>.

^[94] Nerita Wright, ‘Monitoring Ankle Bracelets for Children? This Demonises Kids — and puts Treaty at Risk’’, Crikey (Web Page, 25 March 2024) <https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/03/25/monitoring-ankle-bracelets-children-justice-victoria/>.

^[95] R v Daniel [1997] QCA 139; [1998] 1 Qd R 499 [530] (Fitzgerald P).

^[96] Dechlan Brennan, ‘‘Political Point-Scoring’: NSW Government faces Criticism for new Bail Laws’, National Indigenous Times (online, 12 March 2024) <https://nit.com.au/12-03-2024/10234/political-point-scoring-nsw-government-faces-criticism-for-new-bail-laws>.

^[97] Ben Smee, ‘Australians Urged to Ditch ‘Tough on Crime’ Mindset for Youth Justice as it Does Not Work’, The Guardian (online, 25 January 2023) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/25/australians-urged-to-ditch-tough-on-mindset-for-youth-justice-as-it-does-not-work>.

^[98] ‘Qld’s Youth Reoffending Shame Exposed in Damning New Figures’, Courier Mail (online) <https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/half-qld-youth-crims-back-before-courts-within-a-year/news-story/d0f36be32aa3a2d1c41251397b72512f>.

^[99] Smee (n 97).

^[100] Eden Gillespie, ‘Queensland’s New Criminal Penalties for Young Offenders will ‘Turbocharge Injustice’, Critics say’, The Guardian (online, 30 December 2022) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/30/queenslands-new-criminal-penalties-for-young-offenders-will-turbocharge-injustice-critics-say>.

^[101] Chris Cunneen, Rob White and Kelly Richards, Juvenile Justice: Youth and Crime in Australia (Oxford University Press, 5th ed, 2015) 81.

^[102] Ibid.

^[103] Ibid.

^[104] Hope (n 4).

^[105] NSW Country Mayors Association, ‘Premier’s Intervention Welcomed’ (Media Release, 14 March 2024) <https://nswcountrymayors.com.au/premiers-intervention-welcomed/>.

^[106] Catie McLeod and Tamsin Rose, ‘Youth Offenders will find it Harder to get Bail under Sweeping new NSW Laws’, The Guardian (online, 12 March 2024) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/12/nsw-premier-chris-minns-youth-crime-law-changes-bail-act>.

^[107] Adam Harvey and Raveen Hunjan, ‘Moree’s Youth Crime Problem has Resulted in Violent Attacks, Locals Believe Compassion is the Key to Change’, ABC News (Web Page, 25 March 2024) <https://amp.abc.net.au/article/103630468>; Nick Dole ‘Tougher Bail Laws and a new ‘Post and Boast’ Social Media Offence have been Announced to Crack Down on Youth Crime. How will it Work?’, ABC News (Web Page, 12 March 2024) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-12/nsw-youth-crime-legislation-bail-social-media-incarceration/103578062>.

^[108] Bail and Crimes Amendment Bill 2024 (NSW).

^[109] Bail Act 2013 (NSW) (‘Bail Act’).

^[110] Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) (‘Crimes Act’).

^[111] The Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) is also amended by this Bill.

^[112] Nick Dole, ‘Top Legal, Criminal Justice Minds Slam Proposed Youth Bail Reforms in Letter to NSW Premier Chris Minns’, ABC News (Web Page, 18 March 2024) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-18/law-experts-letter-nsw-premier-chris-minns-slam-bail-changes/103596530>; Harvey and Hunjan (n 107).

^[113] Dole (n 112).

^[114] Letter from Law Society of NSW to Members of the Legislative Council, 20 March 2024, <https://www.lawsociety.com.au/sites/default/files/2024-03/Letter%20to%20Members%20of%20the%20Legislative%20Council%20-%20Bail%20and%20Crimes%20Amendment%20Bill%202024%20-%2020%20March%202024.pdf>.

^[115] Ibid 1.

^[116] Ibid 5.

^[117] Dole (n 112).

^[118] NSW Government, ‘NSW Government takes Action to Make Communities Safer and Support Young People in Regions’ (Media Release, 12 March 2024) <https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/nsw-government-takes-action-to-make-communities-safer-and-support-young-people-regions>.

^[119] Harvey and Hunjan (n 107).

^[120] ‘Census of Population and Housing – Counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians’, Australian Bureau of Statistics (Web Page, 31 August 2022) <https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/census-population-and-housing-counts-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians/latest-release>.

^[121] ‘Aboriginal Over-Representation in the NSW Criminal Justice System’, NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (Web Page, 3 April 2024) <https://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Pages/bocsar_pages/Aboriginal-over-representation.aspx>.

At the end of 2023, 107 Indigenous juveniles (61.5% of the juvenile detention population) were in custody, an increase of 37 juveniles since 2021. The number of Indigenous juveniles’ bail refused increased 12.7% from 2022, whilst the number in remand increased 64.7% from December 2021 to December 2023. The number returning to custody within 12 months of being released remained stable.

Indigenous Australians comprised 3.2% of Australia’s population as of 2021. See ‘Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population Summary’, Australian Bureau of Statistics (Web Page, 1 July 2022) <https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/australia-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-population-summary>.

^[122] Dole (n 112).

^[123] NSW Government (n 118).

^[124] McLeod and Rose (n 106); Dole (n 112).

^[125] Dole (n 112).

^[126] For example, Dechlan Brennan, ‘NSW Police Minister Defends New Bail Laws in Labor Members Revolt’, National Indigenous Times (online, 4 April 2024) <https://nit.com.au/04-04-2024/10641/nsw-police-minister-defends-new-bail-laws-in-as-members-of-labor-revolt>.

^[127] Kate Newton, ‘‘Just the Tip of the Iceberg’: More Work needed after End of Harmful Police Program’, University of NSW (Web Page, 2 November 2023) <https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2023/11/-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg---more-work-needed-after-end-of-har>.

^[128] Ibid.

^[129] Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, An Investigation into the Use of the NSW Police Force Suspect Targeting Management Plan on Children and Young People – Operation Tepito (Final Report, October 2023) 28, 51, 68, 123 <https://www.lecc.nsw.gov.au/news-and-publications/publications/operation-tepito-final-report.pdf> (‘LECC Operation Tepito’); s 11(1)(c) Law Enforcement Conduct Commission Act 2016 (NSW).

^[130] Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, ‘Operation Tepito Final Report’ (Media Release, 30 October 2023) <https://www.lecc.nsw.gov.au/news-and-publications/news/media-release-operation-tepito-final-report>.

^[131] LECC Operation Tepito (n 129) 68; Newton (n 127).

^[132] Goldsworthy, Brotto and Cawthray (n 8).

^[133] Dechlan Brennan, ‘Human Rights Advocates Sound Alarm as Queensland Passes “Dangerous” Youth Justice Changes’, National Indigenous Times (online, 20 March 2023) <https://nit.com.au/20-03-2023/5334/human-rights-advocates-sound-alarm-as-queensland-passes-dangerous-youth-justice-changes>.

^[134] Youth Justice Act 1992 (QLD) (‘Youth Justice Act’).

^[135] Criminal Code 1899 (QLD) (‘Criminal Code’).

^[136] Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (QLD) (‘Police Powers Act’).

^[137] Bail Act 1980 (QLD) (‘Bail Act’).

^[138] Strengthening Community Safety Act 2023 (QLD).

^[139] Then Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had previously highlighted that social media was contributing to the ‘youth crime crisis’. See Nick Gibbs, ‘Premier Highlights Social Media’s Role in Youth Crime’, Brisbane Times (online at 5 May 2023) <https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/premier-highlights-social-medias-role-in-youth-crime-20230505-p5d5va.html>.

^[140] Child Protection (Offender Reporting and Offender Prohibition Order) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2023 (QLD) quoted in Australian Associated Press, ‘Queensland has More Children in Detention than any Other State, Report says’, The Guardian (online, 15 November 2022) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/15/queensland-has-more-children-in-detention-than-any-other-state-report-says>.

^[141] QPS Media, ‘Taskforce Guardian nabs 1000 Offenders in Youth Crime Crackdown’, Queensland Police News (Web Page, 29 February 2024) <https://mypolice.qld.gov.au/news/2024/02/29/taskforce-guardian-nabs-1000-offenders-in-youth-crime-crackdown/>.

^[142] A 2019 Griffith University study commissioned by the Queensland Police Service found a steady decline in juvenile offender numbers and a concurrent growth in the number of chronic offenders. See Molly McCarthy, ‘Trends in Youth Offending in Queensland, 2008 to 2017’ (Research Brief, Griffith Criminology Institute, 2019) <https://blogs.griffith.edu.au/gci-insights/2020/05/27/trends-in-youth-offending-in-queensland-2008-to-2017/> quoted in Smee (n 97).

^[143] Queensland Government (n 65).

^[144] Joe Hinchliffe, ‘Queensland Children may be Pleading Guilty to Crimes they didn’t Commit to Avoid Bail Laws, Report Says’, The Guardian (online, 16 November 2022) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/16/queensland-children-may-be-pleading-guilty-to-crimes-they-didnt-commit-to-avoid-bail-laws-report-says>.

^[145] For example, the Youth Justice Reforms Review, (Final Report, March 2022) <https://www.dcssds.qld.gov.au/resources/dcsyw/about-us/reviews-inquiries/youth-justice-reforms-review-march-2022.pdf>.

^[146] Hinchliffe (n 144).

^[147] Justice Reform Initiative, ‘State of Incarceration – Insights into Imprisonment in Queensland’ (Paper, November 2022) 1 <https://assets.nationbuilder.com/justicereforminitiative/pages/337/attachments/original/1681695619/7_JRI_Insights_QLD-2.pdf?1681695619>.

^[148] Ryan (n 80).

^[149] Maker Mayek, Leanne Weber and Diana Johns, ‘How the Panic about Melbourne’s so-called African Gangs Haunts this Victorian Election’, The Guardian (online, 24 November 2022) <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2022/nov/24/how-the-panic-about-melbournes-so-called-african-gangs-haunts-this-victorian-election>.

^[150] ‘African Students hit by Racist Ban in Schools’, Herald Sun (online, 1 March 2017) <https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/south-sudanese-students-banned-from-congregating-in-groups-at-several-melbourne-schools/news-story/88e7d820d1714beb59cb6bdb7722fd1f>.

^[151] John Blackmore, ‘Delinquency Theory and Practice: a Link through IT’ [1984] 9 Youth and Policy 45, 45-46.

^[152] John Budarick, ‘Why the Media are to Blame for Racialising Melbourne’s ‘African Gang’ Problem’, The Conversation (online, 1 August 2018) <https://theconversation.com/why-the-media-are-to-blame-for-racialising-melbournes-african-gang-problem-100761>.

^[153] Ibid.

^[154] Ibid.

^[155] Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre (n 10) 2.

^[156] Ibid 5.

^[157] Ibid 2.

^[158] Magistrate Mark Douglass, ‘A Road Less Travelled: Footprints from Trauma’, Judicial Commission of New South Wales (Web Page, 2023) <https://www.judcom.nsw.gov.au/publications/benchbks/judicial_officers/footprints_from_trauma.html>.

^[159] Manfred Nowak, United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty (Report, November 2019) 336.

^[160] Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre (n 10) 6.

^[161] Mayek, Weber and Johns (n 149).

^[162] Budarick (n 152).

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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/UNSWLawJlStuS/2024/27.html

Jurisdiction	NSW	Queensland	Victoria	Australia
Juvenile offenders (aged 10-17 years) proceeded against by Police as percentage of total offenders^[44]	- 16% (18,390) in 2022-23 - Increased 2% (378) from 2021-22 ^[45]	- 13% (10,878) in 2022-23 - Increased 6% (574) from 2021-22	- 12% (8,175) in 2022-23 - Increased 16% (1,147) from 2021-22	- 48,014 in 2022-23 - Increase of 6% from 2021-22
The rate of juveniles in detention per 10,000 young people aged 10-17 years^[46]	- 1.9 in 2021-22 - Stable from 2020-21 - Decrease from previous years to 2014-15	- 4.8 in 2021-22 - Increase from 2020-21 and previous years to 2014-15^[47] - Only decline was in 2019-20	- 1.2 in 2021-22 - Decrease from 2020-21 - Continues downward trend - Increase in 2016-17 but current rate is now its lowest since 2014-15	- 2.8 in 2021-22 - Increase from 2020-21 - Decrease from previous years to 2014-15
The proportion of young people released from sentenced supervision, aged 10-16 years at time of release, who returned to sentenced supervision within 12 months^[48]	- 44.4% in 2019-20 - Decrease from previous years to 2014-15 - Only increase in 2017-18	- 56.8% in 2019-20 - Decrease from previous years to 2014-15	- 56.3% in 2019-20 - Increase from 2018-19 - Decrease from previous years back to 2016-17 - Previously higher in 2014-15 and 2015-16	- 50.9% in 2019-20 - Decrease from previous years to 2014-15 - Only increase in 2017-18

University of New South Wales Law Journal Student Series

Wilson, Jacqueline --- "How Useful Are the Concepts of 'Moral Panic' and 'Populist Politicisation' in Understanding Shifts in Juvenile/Youth Justice Law and Policy in Australia and/or Elsewhere?" [2024] UNSWLawJlStuS 27; (2024) UNSWLJ Student Series No 24-27