While the ‘catch and release’ practice for youth offenders was well intended, it has resulted in many exploiting that compassion to continue with their criminal activities. The youths know full well that their thieving, drug dealing and other anti-social behaviour can continue with little consequences and know that as any arrests or convictions will be wiped from their record once they turn 18, those convictions will not adversely affect them later in life. That noble pseudo-intellectual policy was a godsend for organised crime, who have been able to recruit youths to do their dirty work, to commit the crimes, for them. Many youths recruited by organised crime have stayed in that industry. That’s not good for them or society.
Youths need to understand and recognise that they will suffer adverse consequences if they commit a crime and more severe consequences for any further crimes. CLA will impose a ‘three strikes’ rule for youth offenders of minor crimes, then they’ll be off to a military style (strong discipline) school for delinquents. These schools, which will be boarding schools established in regional Australia, will focus on education of a more practical rather than theoretical or academic nature. In other words, focussed on work in the trades and on farmwork.
The state’s priority must be to keep people safe, and if criminals make the streets unsafe then the way to fix it is to take the criminals off the streets. That should apply to adults as well as to children, but the institutions handling them need to be quite different.
While tough on youth crime, CLA does not support “Adult crime. Adult time” policies. Children should not be incarcerated in adult prisons or in prison like institutions. CLA will see children placed in boarding schools that have strong discipline, require strict compliance with rules and importantly will teach the youths something productive – so once they leave, they will be well equipped to be productive members of society.