Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Victoria is experiencing a youth crime crisis. In the last year alone, offences were up 15 per cent—25,000 incidents involved children aged 10 to 17. Two-thirds of robberies and a half of our aggravated burglaries are committed by children, many from a core group of about 400 repeat offenders. Crime has hit hard in my electorate of Kooyong. I hear every week of car thefts, break-ins and aggravated burglaries in our suburbs. People are nervous, and those affected by these crimes are traumatised. The papers are baying for these children to be punished harder. The Allan state government has responded by banning machetes, tightening bail laws, reopening Malmsbury youth prison, abandoning a pledge to raise the age of criminal responsibility, and now threatening lifelong sentences for crimes committed by children.

The thing is, throwing the book at children doesn't work. Almost 40 per cent of young people in detention are there for violent crimes. But children aren't born violent; they're born into poverty and abuse. As many as 25 per cent of children in our youth justice system have undiagnosed foetal alcohol syndrome, ADHD or other disabilities. Prison won't fix that. It will compound harm, sever family ties and provide a criminal apprenticeship. And it's expensive: a million dollars a year to lock up a child—for what? Most are released within weeks back into the same unstable housing, disrupted schooling and domestic trauma that contributed to their offending in the first place. Local and international studies are clear: harsher sentences do not reduce crime, and prison often increases re-offending.

Children's brains are still developing. Under pressure, they act impulsively. Toughening bail laws and imposing adult sentences for kids as young as 14 won't make us safer, and it won't help vulnerable children. So what will help? Prevention, diversion, rehabilitation, stable housing, supportive schools, pathways to jobs, culturally safe services for Indigenous youth, youth centres, mentors, medical assessment, drug treatment and family support. Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit cut violent crime by 60 per cent using a public health approach. Victoria's new Violence Reduction Unit, announced last week, should do the same. It should invest in people, not in prisons.

Children aren't born bad. They're born into social and economic disadvantage. If we want fewer crimes, fewer victims and safer streets, we have to break the cycle. We have to invest in housing, education, mental health and culturally safe social supports.