Editor's Note

Hi Everyone,

Youth crime seems to be rife at the moment, the latest incident involving a 12-year-old boy arrested for arson following a house fire in Jubilee Pocket on Tuesday afternoon.

This is just the latest in a series of crimes reported on over the past few months, several car-break-ins, trespassing, and robberies have also occurred, with many residents suspecting local youth, and uploading security camera footage to social media to prove it.

At the risk of sounding old and possibly out of touch – what is going on with the youth of today?

They have such a great life here in the Whitsundays – the beach is close by, there are skate parks, basketball courts . . . do we need more for them to do?

Statistics show that youth crime has increased drastically since COVID – are youngsters feeling despondent? Bored? Fed up with following the rules?

Or is it that they just don’t care because they don’t get in any real trouble when they get caught?

I was speaking to a business owner from the Burdekin the other day and he said that in his region youngsters are frequently stealing cars and leaving them abandoned.

The police know who the culprits are, let them off with a warning and the youngsters don’t care because their slate gets wiped clean when they turn 18.

It seems there are no real repercussions, and these young offenders feel they are above the law.

In my opinion, if they are old enough to wander the streets by themselves, old enough to think of committing the crime, then they are old enough to be punished by law for their crimes.

But I have to admit . . . if it was my kid out there who had fallen down the wrong path and got himself involved with a serious crime, I might very well feel differently.

Rach

Quote of the Week: “Aging is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you always should have been” (David Bowie)

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