Daily London
Electronic monitoring devices have been trialled on youth offenders aged 15 to 18 on bail with mixed results.
Youth advocates were scathing of the new laws in a parliamentary hearing.
“With 10 to 14 year olds, there is no evidence anywhere that EMDs will be at all productive for this cohort,” Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes said.
“Sixty per cent of these young people, home is not a safe place for them, and confining them to an unsafe space is probably one of the worst things we can do,” PeakCare chief executive Tom Allsop said.
Queensland Family and Child Commission Commissioner Natalie Lewis also criticised the move.
“It violates children’s rights, it ignores what science tells us about child development and it contradicts everything we know about effective youth justice,” Lewis said.
Despite the backlash, the bill will pass when parliament resumes with the support of youth crime victims.
“The electronic monitoring devices is just another tool that is available to the courts,” Voice for Victims advocate Trudy Reading said.
