LAWS, SOCIAL MEDIA NEED TO HELP FIX SAD CRISIS

IT’S hard not to feel devastated by the struggle of the Gold Coast parents desperate to save their son – just 13 years old – from the grip of a youth crime gang. When a mother makes a habit of scrolling for potential funeral photos for her child, when parents beg unsuccessfully for help from the courts and police – their all-consuming sense of helplessness is impossible to ignore.

Today’s story lays bare the truth that young criminals aren’t just blowins from “bad families”, but that the trap of using crime as a means to acceptance can snare anyone’s child.

And it’s not just parents and authorities who hold responsibility.

For many of these teens, notoriety and reaction to their crime is oxygen and without it, much of the reward would be snuffed out.

But, yet again, the company with the dizzying power to make a real positive impact chooses not to.

Despite its own community guidelines warning against “illegal content”, and its terms of use advising to “always follow the law”, Facebookowned Instagram refuses to remove posts showing young children brandishing knives and stealing cars.

With a few taps of a keyboard, Instagram could ban accounts and hashtags used by the gangs to glorify, spread and popularise crime – yet they don’t.

At a more local level, there is an increasing cry to fix a juvenile justice system so toothless that kids aren’t even afraid of getting caught as they know they’re likely to escape any real consequences.

Magistrates, judges and the police do what they can, but it’s clear the laws by which they’re constrained have not kept pace with the changing pressures and influences on young citizens.

The Bulletin, as your local newspaper, has been campaigning strongly on this issue and will continue to do so, but we can’t do it alone.