Queensland Government Calls for Tougher Sentences in Effort to Combat Youth Crime
The Attorney-General of Queensland has filed appeals in two cases that would have resulted in harsher sentences under the new government’s law changes.
The new centre-right Queensland Liberal-National government, which took office in October with a focus on tougher penalties, is appealing two cases decided in 2023. Attorney-General Deb Frecklington criticized the sentences as “manifestly inadequate.”
One appeal aims to secure a longer sentence for a 13-year-old who caused a fatal car crash while driving a stolen vehicle, resulting in the deaths of three individuals and serious injuries to another in 2023.
Another case involves Brock Andrew McDonald, who admitted to charges of deprivation of liberty and assault causing bodily harm in an incident where he put a rope around a woman’s neck and dragged her into a car in October 2023.
Frecklington deemed the penalties insufficient and not in line with community expectations. Premier David Crisafulli supported the appeals, noting that the offenders were sentenced under previous laws that have since been replaced by stricter youth crime laws passed by the new government.
The revised laws allow for harsher penalties for youth offenders, including being sentenced as adults for serious crimes and mandatory life imprisonment for murder and manslaughter.
Crisafulli emphasized the government’s commitment to combating youth crime and stated, “We owe it to those families and to every Queenslander to put up a fight.”
