This page contains a chronology of substantive changes to the Youth Justice Act 1992 and Youth Justice Regulation 2016 in recent years. Each entry was correct at the time it was made and is retained as a record of those changes. Past changes may be superseded by more recent changes.

2024 amendments

Youth Justice (Conduct of Searches and Other Matters) Amendment Regulation 2024

On 30 September 2024, the Youth Justice (Conduct of Searches and Other Matters) Amendment Regulation 2024 (the Amendment Regulation) amended the Youth Justice Regulation 2016 to:

  • update arrangements for determining the gender of persons who will conduct searches or provide health services in youth detention centres, to reflect trauma-informed contemporary best practice
  • provide for x-ray imaging searches in youth detention centres, to reduce the need for unclothed searches.

The Amendment Regulation also establishes the new Wacol Youth Remand Centre (WYRC) as a place of detention under the Youth Justice Act 1992, commencing on 1 December 2024. The WYRC is currently under construction.

More information

Queensland Community Safety Act 2024

On 30 August 2024, the Queensland Community Safety Act 2024 came into effect, amending the Youth Justice Act 1992 and a number of other Acts.

The amendments to the Youth Justice Act:

  • reword and clarify youth justice principle 18
  • insert a reference to disability services into the youth justice principles to highlight that children's disability needs must be met while in detention
  • increase the number of participants in the electronic monitoring trial by expanding the list of prescribed indictable offences, and expanding the criteria to include children who have been charged with a prescribed indictable offence in the preceding 12 months
  • clarify the bail decision-making process to reflect that consideration of risks, and any conditions that may mitigate those risks, should occur in the one process, prior to a decision to release the child
  • streamline processes for the transfer of detainees over the age of 18 years to adult custody
  • enable temporary transfers from watchhouses to youth detention centres to facilitate participation in programs and physical exercise at youth detention centres
  • regulate the taking of photos and videos in youth detention centres
  • establish a head of power for a regulation to enable the recording of detainee phone calls in certain circumstances
  • ensure that a child can participate fully in a program or service intended to address their offending behaviour, including having full and frank discussions with facilitators, without fear that what is said in those sessions could be used in evidence against them in any civil, criminal or administrative proceedings.

The Childrens Court Act 1992 has been amended to enable Childrens Court criminal proceedings to be more open to victims, family of deceased victims, victims' representatives, people with a proper interest in the proceedings, and the media.

Amendments to other legislation such as the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 and the Criminal Code will have implications for the entire criminal justice system.

More information

The following more detailed resource is available for legal stakeholders, such as lawyers, police and courts:

Youth Justice (Access by Accredited Media Entities) Amendment Regulation 2024

On 30 August 2024, the Youth Justice Regulation 2016 was amended to allow information to be provided to accredited media entities about when and where particular Childrens Court criminal proceedings are to be heard. This amendment enables media entities to observe and report on those proceedings. Prohibitions on publication of identifying information continue to apply.

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Youth Justice (Monitoring Device Conditions) Amendment Regulation 2024

On 28 August 2024, the Youth Justice Regulation 2016 was amended to prescribe additional locations for electronic monitoring.

The new locations are:

  • South Brisbane
  • Ipswich
  • Fraser Coast
  • Mackay
  • Rockhampton.

More information

2023 amendments

On 24 August 2023, urgent amendments to the Youth Justice Act 1992 were passed by the Queensland Parliament.

These amendments, which commence on assent of the Child Protection (Offender Reporting and Offender Prohibition Order) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2023, reflect and validate what has been the understood and established practice for the last 30 years.

The amendments have the following effect:

  • make lawful the longstanding practice of holding children in watchhouses until beds become available in youth detention centres
  • make that practice more transparent by setting out criteria to be taken into account when deciding the prioritisation and timing of transfers
  • provide a human rights declaration override declaration that applies to this decision making process until 31 December 2026
  • make a retrospective amendment to address past incidences of children being held in police custody in watchhouses when s.56(4) orders have not been made
  • provide a human rights override declaration for the establishment of youth detention centres until December 2026, in extraordinary circumstances
  • address drafting errors in relation to the transfer of detainees aged 18 or over to adult custody.

Read the amendments to the legislation (PDF, 266KB).

On 22 March 2023, the Strengthening Community Safety Act 2023 came into effect, amending the Youth Justice Act 1992 and other legislation.

The amendments to the Youth Justice Act:

  • extend and expand the trial of electronic monitoring devices as a condition of bail for a further 2 years to include eligible 15-year-olds
  • expand the list of offences with a presumption against bail to include people who are passengers in stolen vehicles and enter premises with intent to commit an indictable offence
  • confirm in legislation that a court is to take into account the young person's bail history when sentencing
  • empower a sentencing court to declare a child a 'serious repeat offender' (SRO) to enable considerations such as community safety to be paramount when sentencing
  • extend the maximum duration of a conditional release order (CRO) from 3 months to 6 months
  • ensure child offenders given a CRO for more serious offending are more likely to serve their suspended term of detention if they breach their CRO
  • in certain circumstances allow the transfer of 18-year-olds to correctional centres rather than detention centres
  • ensure the continuation of multi-agency collaborative panels (MACPs) which facilitate coordinated case management for young people identified as high risk or requiring a collaborative response.

The Criminal Code has also been amended to:

  • increase the maximum sentence for unlawful use of motor vehicle offences and introduce new circumstances of aggravation, including where an offender has published boastful material of their offending behaviour on social media
  • and
  • require unlawful use of motor vehicle offences with a circumstance of aggravation involving violence or being armed to be heard by a judge, attracting higher penalties.

The Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 has also been amended to provide that police are not required to consider alternatives to arrest if a child on bail for a prescribed indictable offence or certain domestic violence offences has contravened or is contravening a bail condition.

The Bail Act 1980 has been amended to make it an offence for a child to breach a condition of their bail.

Extension and expansion of electronic monitoring

Following the evaluation of the initial trial of electronic monitoring as a condition of bail (see 2021 amendments below), the provisions have been extended until 30 April 2025 (as noted above) and the Youth Justice Regulation 2016 has been amended to prescribe 3 additional locations:

  • Toowoomba
  • Mount Isa
  • Cairns.

A further review will be conducted towards the end of the extended period.

New services

An extra $100 million is being invested into diversion and rehabilitation programs that are evidence based and proven to make a difference. Some of these programs include:

  • expanding Intensive Case Management which targets chronic young offenders aged 13 to 17 years and their families to help break the cycle of crime
  • expanding Youth Co-responder teams which are dedicated teams of police and youth justice workers who provide 24/7 coordinated responses to young people who are at risk of committing offences and young people on bail
  • investing $4 million into On Country programs providing culture-based rehabilitation for young First Nations people
  • investing more in grassroots early intervention, working with communities on programs that work.

More information

The following more detailed resources are available for legal stakeholders, such as lawyers, police and courts:

2021 amendments

Amendments to the Youth Justice Act 1992 came into effect on 30 April (on assent) to strengthen accountability for serious repeat youth offenders.

This small proportion of youth offenders commit a disproportionately large number of offences, and have an unacceptable impact on community safety.

The amendments:

  • introduce a limited presumption against bail for children charged with particular offences (including assault, attempted robbery, unauthorised use of a motor vehicle where the child is a driver, and dangerous driving) while on bail for an indictable offence
  • introduce time limited (2 years) provisions for GPS monitoring as an available bail condition for young offenders aged 16 years and over charged with particular offences
  • enable bail decision-makers to consider the willingness of a parent, guardian or other person to support a young person on bail, and advise of any relevant change of circumstances or breach of bail
  • reinforce the existing youth justice principle to uphold community safety by adding an additional principle that the community should be protected from serious recidivist offenders
  • codify the existing common law principle that offences committed on bail should be considered as an aggravating factor during sentencing
  • clarify the existing provision that a young person cannot be remanded in custody solely because they do not have adequate accommodation or family support.

The Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 has been amended to:

  • strengthen existing owner onus provisions for hooning offences
  • provide police with time limited (2 years) powers to scan people for knives in public spaces within Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise safe night precincts (a trial will be reviewed after 12 months).

GPS monitoring

The GPS monitoring provisions will be applied to trial electronic monitoring technology in 5 locations (precise areas are prescribed in the Youth Justice Regulation 2016):

  • Townsville
  • North Brisbane
  • Moreton
  • Logan
  • Gold Coast.

The trial will be reviewed after 12 months.

New services

More than $98 million over 4 years of new investment will also target the core serious repeat offender group and other young offenders. This funding will deliver 24/7 monitoring, supervision and support to these high-risk young people and their families.

More information

2020 amendments – youth bail

Laws to strengthen and simplify the bail decision-making process for young offenders were passed by the parliament on 17 June 2020 and commenced on 15 July 2020.

The amendments to the Youth Justice Act 1992 mean that children who are an unacceptable risk to the safety of the community must not be granted bail and will be kept in custody.

More information

2019 amendments

The new laws, passed on 22 August 2019, form part of the Queensland Government's $550 million investment in youth justice reforms, including new programs and services to keep young people out of custody and from re-offending.

The Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2019 was tabled in June 2019 and then referred to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee for consideration. After a detailed examination, which included submissions from stakeholders, the Committee recommended that it be passed.

The Act includes changes to the Youth Justice Act 1992, the Bail Act 1980, the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 and the Public Guardian Act 2014, including:

  • changes to the Charter of Youth Justice Principles
  • recordings and use of body-worn cameras in detention centres
  • insertion of a new sentencing principle into the Youth Justice Act regarding child homicide
  • amendments to the Public Guardian Act
  • establishment of a contemporary information sharing framework under amendments to the Youth Justice Act
  • amendments to the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act.

More information

Last updated 4 October 2024

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