More than half of young offenders subject to sentence supervision in Queensland were back in contact with the criminal justice system within 12 months, new data shows.
The Productivity Commission numbers come as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pledges new laws designed to drive down youth crime will be a priority when parliament returns next month.
Close to 57 per cent of Queenslanders aged 10 to 16 at the time of release returned to some form of sentence supervision within a year in 2019-20, the figures released on Tuesday show.
The rate is the highest among all jurisdictions , but continued a downward trend over the previous two years that peaked at 65 per cent in 2017-18.
Ms Palaszczuk announced a plan targeting young offenders following the stabbing death of mother-of-two Emma Lovell during an alleged home invasion late last year.
The premier on Monday said new laws are currently being drafted and will be introduced when parliament returns in February.
"They need to have programs ... to see that they will actually have work when they leave prison," she said.
"Some of these young people have complex backgrounds, and ... we need to help break that cycle of crime."
The plan includes longer prison terms for car thieves, increased penalties for those who boast about crime on social media and judges will have to take the histories of child offenders into account when deciding on bail applications.
Australian Associated Press
