Youth crime: Consider tailored curfew, says Opposition

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
 
Sir – The arrest of two teens yesterday over a knifepoint robbery at a petrol station in Malak highlights the need for the Labor Government to consider both tailored curfews and enhanced bail laws for recidivist offenders and those who breach bail.
 
‘The Labor Government told us that they are committed to alternatives to traditional detention that would see youth offenders taken off the streets and sent to programs that would educate and rehabilitate them.
 
Yet just yesterday, the only alternative to detention currently operating in the Territory was shut down, due to a lack of support from the Government.
 
Robberies, vandalism, carjacking, home invasion and assault have become common place, particularly during school holidays.
 
The time has come for sensible solutions to identify the youth that are perpetrating these crimes and deal with them in a way which both imposes consequences and reduces the prospect of them re-offending in the future.
 
The Labor Government has flatly refused to consider changes to the Bail Act, which would remove the presumption in favour of bail for recidivist offenders and those who breach bail.
 
Instead, the Labor Government introduced ‘Youth Outreach Officers’ who were tasked with ensuring that youth offenders comply with bail restrictions and do not re-offend.
 
Two of the youth involved in the knife-point robbery in Malak were on bail. It is clear that the Labor Government’s so-called solutions to the youth crime crisis in the Territory are not working.
 
Despite passing legislation on urgency in March, not a single youth has been fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet by police.
 
Had the youth involved in Malak been wearing electronic monitoring bracelets, they likely would have been apprehended before they committed an armed robbery with a deadly weapon.’
 
 
Gary Higgins
Leader of the Opposition