The Juvenile Justice System

The criminal justice system is identified as an important aspect of our society and enforcing laws that help develop the well being of our nation. One would say the criminal justice system is not implemented to arrest, prosecute or punish criminals, however it is there to prevent crime and form a peaceful, law abiding society. In doing this there would have to be a balance with criminal justice and the rights of the individual accused with society’s need for order. The extent of the efficiency of the juvenile justice system, media’s influence over juveniles and their impact on society's need for order and the possible solutions to the problems arising from these systems, need to be changed in order to reduce the high rate of youth crime. In
Queensland maintains that a child under the age of 10 years is not considered criminally responsible for their actions and a child under the age of 14 years is also not considered criminally responsible, unless it is proven that the child understood the offence was wrong since 1st August 1997 Criminal Code Act 1899. This applies to every state in Australia, however for Queensland unlike every state it also states that 17 year olds can be placed in an adult jail. This particular Act does not provide the 17 year old individual with a balance in the justice system. Adult jails are known to be dangerous and violent which places the juveniles at an enormous risk of being violently victimised by adult offenders. 17 year olds are still considered physically and mentally immature and do not deserve to be mentally and physically drained by the effects of being in an adult prison. In QLD children at the age of 17 are unable to vote, drink alcohol, or otherwise participate fully in society until the age of 18 thus should not be treated as adults by the criminal law. The civil law and child protection system also recognises that children under the age of 18 do not have full capacity to be dealt with in an adult jail. Queensland is an isolated state it is the only jurisdiction in the country that continues to treat 17 year olds as adults. When the juvenile justice act in 1992 just got passed by the QLD government,
The 1988 Kennedy Review Into Corrective Service was one of the reports that criticised The Children Service Act 1965 (QLD)that stated that a child was defined as under the age of 17. The 1988 Kennedy report stated that “...people under 18 just should not be in adult prisons. They are children in law children in terms of rights and responsibilities” this was the first significant criticism of the juvenile justice system in QLD. The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child in 1990 also supported the 1988 Kennedy Review by stating that “ ...a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.” This was presented in 1990 and came into power in 1991 this was a unanimous agreement by all Australian governments. This was also the first convention specifically for the rights of children. In 1992 the Juvenile Justice Act (QLD) was passed, which is the current Act QLD juvenile justice system is based on. This Act had 17 year olds as part of the juvenile justice system, when this Act was passed, The Hon Ann Warner expressed his support for the 1988 Kennedy Review and later declared that the act would change in the future. And yet 24 years later 17 year olds are still considered