City seeks solutions to keep our youth on track
BOOSTING our efforts to keep parents and children engaged in school has been the most consistent proposal emerging from my consultations on youth crime with the Townsville community.
This is unsurprising, as I have always recognised Townsville residents as compassionate, with people committed to giving children the best start in life.
In 2017- 18 in Townsville, the average daily number of young people under youth justice supervision was 106.
Of these, 49 were of compulsory school age, meaning these children are experiencing a disrupted education, training and employment pathway.
According to research by University of Queensland professor Lorraine Mazzorole, children disengaged from school are “more at risk of being ensnared in anti- social behaviour” such as youth crime.
In their conversations with me, residents and youth service providers have raised three potential solutions to keeping children in school.
The first recognises some children are suspended or expelled because they have undiagnosed behavioural or learning issues. One solution would require the Queensland Department of Education to introduce pre- school behavioural screening to determine the best education pathway for a child, and what support a family might need to achieve this.
A second solution is to review truancy procedures. Schools currently contact parents to confirm reasons for non- attendance and can refer cases to the Queensland Police for prosecution of parents.
But is there a sense of urgency in this process, are we allocating enough resources to investigate non- attendance, and are penalties more effective than incentives? A third community- driven solution is to introduce programs earlier that promote school attendance, such as the Stronger Smarter program, and the Clontarf Foundation academies.
The number of children who progress to Year 12 has increased in schools with these programs, which suggests this solution has strong merit.
These suggestions are being matched by local law and order agencies in their efforts to hold youth ac- countable for their actions. Many of the conditional release orders and detention orders imposed on youth offenders include orders to attend school.
The evidence – and residents themselves – suggest the role of education is a critical one in preventing youth crime, which is why it will be a strong focus of my final report to the Queensland Premier.
Stuart Smith, Major General ( ret), was appointed Townsville’s “community champion” by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk this year. He reports to Ms Palaszczuk on crime in the city.