Experts issue warnings about child home detention ankle bracelets
Youth crime
A host of frontline youth-service providers and legal professionals have expressed concerns about a plan to extend the use of home-detention bracelets to 10-14 year olds on bail across Queensland during a State Government review process this month.
Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber told state parliament last month the current laws had “hamstrung the courts” and meant only a small cohort of youth offenders aged 15-17 were currently able to be electronically monitored.
“We are giving courts the power they need to impose a GPS monitoring device on any youth given bail,” Minister Gerber said.
“These changes are guided by our government’s commitment to fewer victims of crime, safer communities and a youth-justice system that delivers consequences for actions.”
But a long list of frontline youth-service providers and legal-industry professionals have appeared before the review committee this month to argue against the inclusion of 10-14-year-olds in the new laws, which the Government also wants to expand statewide and make a permanent condition of youth bail.
One of those speaking out against the expansion plan was Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes, who told the inquiry the centre supported the use of Electronic Monitoring Devices for 15-18-year-olds, but there were some major issues when it came to child offenders.
“To be eligible for an EMD, the legislation has various factors which need to be met… and that is a stable home, a prosocial adult, access to wi-fi and access to a phone,” Ms Hayes said.
“For a 10-to-14-year-old to be engaged in the youth justice system, they are much more likely to come from homes with domestic and family violence, they are much more likely to suffer from mental-health issues and developmental delays, and they are much more likely to not have any stable accommodation.
“These factors alone mean that they are highly unlikely to be able to comply with the conditions imposed by having an EMD, which is you must keep the EMD charged, you must keep the EMD linked with a phone signal and you must be able to maintain it in reasonable condition.”
She said the “big concern” was that 10-to-14 year olds would be bound to conditions they may not be able to comply with, including curfews in homes where they may not be safe from domestic and family violence, neglect and abuse.
“The Youth Advocacy Centre strongly opposes the extension of the scheme to the 10-to-14-year-olds.”
Queensland Law Society president Peter Jolly was one of several legal professionals to outline why his association did not support EMDs for 10-14-year-olds.
“The use of visible ankle monitors causes significant trauma, which often leads to social isolation and disengagement from protective factors like education and employment,” he said.
“EMDs have a net-widening effect, trapping children within the justice system by exposing them to additional penalties for technical breaches such as battery depletion.”
He said the proposed amendments were likely to result in an increase in the number of young people held in detention.
“This significantly widens the net of children under 24/7 surveillance, potentially increasing contact with the criminal justice system for minor technical breaches.”
And he said expanding the scheme across the state was also problematic.
“A major consequence of statewide expansion is the unreliable telecommunications infrastructure in regional and remote Queensland.
“EMDs require constant mobile connectivity to function.
“Without it, they produce no-communication alerts or fail to track location entirely, which can lead to children being unfairly reprimanded or breached, particularly in remote communities.”
The parliamentary committee held a public hearing in Cairns on Wednesday night and a committee report into the Youth Justice (Electronic Monitoring) Amendment Bill 2025 is due to be completed by Friday, February 6.