Naming and shaming young offenders: Reactionary politicians are missing the point

Description

Last month, Queensland's Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie called for the public naming of all youth who appear in court. Echoing practices from the deep south of the USA where t-shrits, signs outside homes and photographs of errant teenagers have been used, Queensland has jumped on the "name and shame" bandwagon ... and not for the first time. During the 2006 Queensland election campaign the then-Coalition parties wanted to make it mandatory to name juveniles over 13 years who had committed a serious offence. Again in 2009 there was political stoushing between Anna Bligh and Lawrence Sprngborg about identifying delinquent. youth.