An innovative program working to reduce juvenile offending is not on the Queensland Government’s radar, according to those who run it.
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For more than 40 years, SHINE for Kids has been developing initiatives to support and mentor young people caught up in the cycle of criminality, helping them get out and stay out of trouble and breaking the cycle of intergenerational crime.
SHINE for Kids CEO Julie Hourigan says her letters to the Queensland Government have been ignored.
SHINE for Kids CEO Julie Hourigan said SHINE wrote to former Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman, and to the premier, outlining the program and how it could operate in Cairns to reduce crime.
She said so far, SHINE had been ignored.
“We wrote to them on 20 April and we are not on their radar,” Ms Hourigan said.
“We work inside youth justice centres, we work inside, alongside Corrections staff.
“We don’t need infrastructure, we need boots on the ground.”
When asked if they had received the letter a spokesman for the Attorney-General’s office said they were unable to locate a record of the correspondence.
Ms Hourigan said $190,000 a year could fund one full-time youth worker to work with young people entangled in the criminal justice system.
Young participants in the SHINE for Kids in-community mentoring program enjoy a group outing.
And the success rate, she says, is outstanding.
The program has been running for 10 years on the NSW central coast, where 81 per cent of the young people who have come through it successfully have met their parole conditions and have not returned to custody within 12 months of being released.
Seventy per cent have either found full-time employment or are enrolled in TAFE, apprenticeships, or schools, Ms Hourigan said.
“That’s the cycle we have to break – young people participating in anti-social behaviour or crimes. The community perception is lock them up, these kids are bad,” she said.
“But we need to dig a bit deeper.
“Of young people in the juvenile justice system, 40 per cent will have at least one parent in the system.”
If they are First Nations, that statistic rises to 70 per cent, she said.
Young people in juvenile justice take part in an onsite event. Picture: Youth Justice NSW.
“These kids have experienced dysfunctional upbringings, intergenerational offending – these kids don’t know anything different.”
She says evidence and research shows the most likely indicator that a young person will become a violent criminal behaviour is locking them up in the first place.
“They will often enter a correctional facility as a minor offender and come out as an educated criminal,” Ms Hourigan said.
“When laws are broken there need to be consequences, but worldwide the evidence says locking people up for longer doesn’t work.
“SHINE for Kids has been operating for 41 years. We’ve been around a long time. We have a strong presence in Queensland working in women’s prisons with mums on parenting skills.
“They get to see alternatives.”
Mentor Andrew with his mentee. The two have formed a lasting friendship and Andrew continues to support his mentee in the community.
A statement from the department of Youth Justice did not directly address whether Shine for Kids has ever come on the radar of the department.
“We are firmly committed to helping young people break the cycle of crime by giving them the opportunity to turn their lives around,” a spokesman said.
It added: “In Cairns, we have a wide range of youth justice programs and services that seek to prevent and respond to youth offending.”
The government will be investing an extra $100 million in diversion and rehabilitation programs across the state to help tackle the complex causes of crime.
This will include establishing an Early Action Group in Cairns to provide early intervention for children and teens considered at risk of offending.
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