Calls to change Queensland’s youth justice laws sending 17-year-olds to adult prisons

The ABC’s Courtney Wilson reports (23.3.16) on calls for the state government to change laws which send 17-year-old convicted felons to serve terms in adult prisons.

‘The Queensland Government is coming under renewed pressure to change a decades-old law which sees 17-year-old offenders sent to adult jails.

‘Legal groups and youth advocates say it not only breaches the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but it also leads to young people becoming entrenched in a life of crime.

‘But despite a planned overhaul of Queensland’s youth justice laws, increasing the age of criminal responsibility does not appear to be on the Government’s agenda.

‘Queensland is the only jurisdiction in the country where 17-year-olds are locked up in adult prisons.’

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