CALLS for a military style boot camp have been reignited by a shock report revealing Far Northern children fill more than a quarter of the state's detention centres.
Victims of crime and a residents action group want a boot-camp dormitory built at Lakeland Downs, southwest of Cooktown, and say juvenile centres do not deter young crims or rehabilitate them.
Their call followed a report from the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian, which showed 27 per cent of detention-centre respondents lived in Cairns and the Far North – the highest proportion in the state, ahead of southeast Queensland on 18 per cent.
Residents Against Crime in Cairns spokesman Barry Neall, who last month urged Police Minister Judy Spence to introduce boot camps, said juvenile centres were a failure.
"I don’t believe these young people should go to jail," Mr Neall said.
"But what do they do in a detention centre?" Mr Neall said. "Are they given an educational program and an opportunity to learn skills?
"It is just a holiday resort if they’re not giving those opportunities. We need to help them."
He said boot camps would provide young people with an education and hands-on learning away from peer-pressuring friends and the Far North’s "city life and bad environment".
Bashing victim Wayne Robson, who had his chest slashed by 12 juveniles and who saw his partner bashed outside the Balaclava Hotel in March, said boot camps were a "marvellous idea".
"I am absolutely frightened of going outside – I feel like I’m being followed," said Mr Robson, who also supports a youth curfew.
"It’s out of hand."
The report, which surveyed juveniles at Townsville’s Cleveland Youth Detention Centre and Brisbane Youth Detention Centre, found 74.1 per cent of respondents had been in detention centres before and 78 per cent did not believe all of the centre’s programs would prevent re-offending.
The report showed 66.7 per cent of juveniles in centres were on remand and one quarter were in the care of the Department of Child Safety when they entered detention.
Deputy Liberal National Party leader Marc McArdle said he supported the introduction of boot camps and wants to go a step further by naming and shaming young crims.
He took a personal swipe at Tourism Minister and Cairns MP Desley Boyle and said she had ignored the growing problem of youth violence.
"People of Far North Queensland have been saying for a long time there has been an increase of violence on their streets," he said.
"If we accept that Cairns is a tourist destination, these figures can do nothing but tarnish the image of a region."
Ms Spence last night said her meeting with Mr Neall was "very productive".
She offered to meet members of the Residents Against Crime group the next time she visits Cairns.
Calls for a Far North boot camp came earlier this year after a report showed a shocking amount of youth violence in the Far North with 25 cases of minors being charged with a serious offence in 2006-07.
Uproar followed the attack of 70-year-old Alexandru Nachiu in December after he was bashed by a thug who did not face court over the crime.
