Every few weeks, justice news hits the headlines. This week, it’s been:
- the doli incapax youth justice reform bill; and
- adult crime, adult time.
These stories spread fast because they’re easy to sensationalise and neatly fit the “hard on crime” narrative. But these headlines are also deeply misleading – not because the issues don’t matter, but because of the assumptions they invite” that punishment alone drives safety, that young people offend in a vacuum and that harsher penalties are the most effective response.
While the media debates whether bail laws should be tightened, almost nothing is being said about the proven, community-based programs that actually reduce reoffending.
When Punishment Dominates the Narrative, Solutions are Drowned Out.
“Hard on crime” rhetoric gives the illusion of decisive action. It obscures the reality: almost all young people entering the justice system are navigating unstable housing, school exclusion, childhood trauma, untreated mental health conditions and a complete absence of reliable role models and adult support.
The Cost of a Distorted Narrative
When politicians and media focus on punishment, three things happen:
Effective programs struggle for visibility and funding.
Housing-first models, long-term mentoring, employment pathways, peer connection and trauma-informed support all reduce reoffending. But when punitive headlines dominate the conversation, the programs delivering real outcomes struggle for airtime, public understanding and investment.
When was the last time a news headline celebrated a mentoring program that kept a young person in school? Or a youth worker who prevented a teenager entering detention? These stories exist, they just don’t trend.
The Public Misdiagnoses the Problem.
If the only message people hear is “tougher penalties”, it becomes easy to believe that severity equals safety.
The data repeatedly shows the opposite: harsh responses like detention, especially for low-level offences, increase the likelihood for reoffending. Stability, connection and support reduce it.
Young people are turned into caricatures.
Sensationalist narratives flatten complex lives into stereotypes. When young people are portrayed as dangerous or irredeemable, it becomes harder to build community understanding, harder to legislate effectively and harder to invest in what actually works.
Once the public stops seeing young people as young people, meaningful reform becomes almost impossible.
What We Should be Talking About
If we want really make meaningful change in our justice system, the conversation must center on what helps young people stabilise, belong and build a positive, sustainable future.
This means prioritising:
- safe and stable housing
- supportive role models
- inclusive education and employment pathways
- accessible mental health care
- strong community connection
- practical, long-term intervention
These approaches reduce reoffending, strengthen families and create safer neighborhoods. More importantly, they support changes that last.
The story we choose to tell shapes the system we build.
If media gave the same airtime to community-led solutions that it gives to fear-driven political campaigns, our society’s attitude towards public justice would look very different.
It’s time to shift the lens from away from punishment.
We know what works – we just need the courage and clarity to talk about it.
