Queensland youth crime crisis: Hawthorne family whose car was stolen are targeted by thieves again

A family whose car was stolen in broad daylight after a burglary is targeted by thieves just three days later – as a juvenile crime crisis grips Queensland.

Tom Miers and his family, who live in Hawthorne, a Brisbane suburb, were targeted by hooded thieves for the second time in one week.

Thieves broke into their home through a side door and stole their car keys while Mr. Miers, his wife and their children were home during the day on Wednesday.

They then went to the garage, started their vehicle and smashed through the garage door as they backed the car out of the driveway and left.

The family’s home was hit again three days later, when a group of brutal thieves broke into the garage on Saturday night.

Mr. Miers was alarmed by their presence after his car’s alarm went off. But by the time he got to his garage, he saw the thieves fleeing.

“We saw them running down the street, across the road,” he said 9News.

When the police arrived at his home with dogs, they revealed to Mr. Miers that this was the “seventh or eighth” burglary they had visited that evening.

Despite two arrests following the car theft, police had told Brisbane’s father that the thieves were likely to return to his home.

“The police warned us they would try to come back because they have your house keys, they will try again,” Mr Miers said.

Shortly after the break-in, a group of hooded youths wearing masks were seen roaming the streets near his home.

They were caught on security camera footage from the home of local resident Brent Daniel, who is only a few blocks away from Mr. Miers.

Mr Daniel expressed his frustration at the burglaries and thefts in the Brisbane area.

“Things have to change, and they have to change from the government,” he said.

Mr. Miers is considering installing floodlights and security cameras on his home and erecting bollards in his driveway to deter criminals.

Thieves broke into the Brisbane family home, took their car keys and smashed through their garage door as they escaped with their car

Three days later, a group of masked youths broke into Mr. Miers’ garage again before fleeing the scene. They were captured on CCTV walking down a nearby street

It comes as statistics show QueenslandThe measures to prevent young people from re-offending are inadequate: more than half re-offend within a year.

The Annastacia Palaszczuk state government introduced another juvenile justice reform initiative in 2016, in an effort to tackle the growing juvenile delinquency epidemic in the state.

However, worrying results from the past two years showed that more than 50 percent of young people who completed the program committed a crime within a year.

Restorative justice is a form of sentencing in which offenders are ordered to meet those they have harmed in an effort to make them recognize the harm their actions have caused and deter them from committing future crimes.

However, in 2021 and 2022, of the more than 3400 young people who followed ‘restorative justice’, reoffended within a year.

Statistics show QLD’s juvenile justice reform initiative, reintroduced in an effort to tackle the juvenile delinquency epidemic, is failing as more than 50 percent of participants reoffend within a year (stock image)

The Palaszczuk government introduced another juvenile justice reform initiative in 2016, in an attempt to tackle the growing juvenile delinquency epidemic in the state, but many relapse or fail to even show up for their ordered conference

Data also showed that more than 4,450 young offenders were ordered to attend the program in the past two years, but nearly 1,000 never showed up.

Youth Justice data also showed that children aged 14 to 15 were the most likely to attend the program.

The region in the far north of Queensland had the highest recidivism rate at 57 per cent, followed by south west Queensland at 56 per cent and south east Queensland at 53 per cent.

Those in the youngest category, 10 to 15 years old, had the highest recidivism rate: 57 percent of them committed at least one crime after participating in the program.