The Queensland opposition has been criticised for pledging to sentence many youth criminals as adults, with human rights and advocacy arguing it would only make the community less safe.

Discussions around youth crime in Queensland have continued for more than a year, and despite the Labor government twice suspending the human rights act last year - to criminalise breach of bail for youths and to allow children to be held in adult watch houses - as well as eliminating the well-established doctrine of detention as a last resort for children, they have been accused of being soft on crime by the Liberal-National opposition.

Over the weekend, opposition leader, David Crisafulli, used the party convention to announce an "adult crime, adult time" policy.

By subjecting children - some as young as ten - to significant periods of time in prison, Crisafulli - who withdrew the LNP from the previously bi-partisan treaty talks last year in the wake of the voice referendum defeat - argued this will act as a deterrent and make the community safer.

"We must send a strong and clear message, and we are doing that today," he said.

"The generation of repeat untouchables must end."

The National Network of Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls (National Network) said the announcement was a disgrace.

"Calling children 'untouchables' is a disgraceful and dehumanising act, particularly when many of these children have endured years of systemic abuse and neglect by the state," the National Network's Debbie Kilroy said.

"This policy announcement by the LNP represents another racially gendered attack on Aboriginal children, families, and communities. It sets a dangerous precedent, creating a slippery slope where Aboriginal children may find themselves incarcerated for life, subjected to a cycle of punishment rather than support."

The new policy would apply to all children under the age of 18 convicted of a raft of crimes, including manslaughter; murder, which has a mandatory life sentence; wounding; break and entry; robbery; and stealing cars.

Children would therefore be sentenced under the general criminal code - applicable to all adults - rather than the youth justice act - which is applicable to children and contains protections for children.

Limited evidence exists that proves incarcerating children reduces crime or increases safety. On the contrary, significant evidence exists highlighting recidivism levels increasing when children are subjected to early interactions with the criminal justice system.

A Queensland parliamentary committee examining youth justice found evidence regarding removing detention of children should as a last resort was unclear, and noted other measures are likely more effective.

On Monday, Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive, Katherine Hayes, agreed, arguing the policy promoted by the LNP, would fail.

"The biggest problem is detention doesn't work," Hayes said, "so it's just continuing to do more of something that doesn't work".

"But also, children - particularly 10 to 14, but including up to 18 - haven't developed the mental faculties to properly evaluate risk and to control their impulses. So, as we all know, teenagers make stupid decisions, and they need to be rehabilitated rather than punished.

"It's in everyone's interests if they can successfully reintegrate into society."

Detention as a last resort is also a principle in the United Nations' convention on the Rights of the Child, which Australia has signed and ratified.

The draft report stated: "Based on the evidence received by the committee so far, it is unclear how removing or amending the principle that detention should be a last resort would affect bail and sentencing decisions in practice".

Speaking to National Indigenous Times in January, Queensland's Family and Child Commission (QFCC) commissioner Natalie Lewis argued: "Detention has been proven to have harmful impacts on children and young people".

"Our system punishes vulnerability rather than addresses it, and compounds trauma rather than heals," Ms Lewis said.

On an average day in 2022-23 in Queensland, 310 children were in detention — 70 per cent of them Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. A recent report found all three of the state's youth detention centres in 2022-23 were operating over their safe capacity by an average of 23 young offenders each day.

30 per cent live in unstable to unsuitable housing and 44 per cent have a disability.

Children were regularly forced to spend long periods of time isolated form their peers due to chronic under-staffing, despite many suffering from severe mental health issues.

The LNP also announced funding for an intensive rehabilitation scheme for every youth released from detention, which would aim to bridge the gap between detention and employment.

Justice Reform Initiative's Executive Director, Mindy Sotiri said the two policy ideas were at odds with one another.

"Harsher penalties for children packaged under a catchy slogan might work for political point scoring, but it has simply never worked to prevent crime or keep the community safe," Dr Sotiri said.

"It instead achieves the opposite.

"Treating children as adults in the criminal justice system will lead to more crime, not less, and will serve to increase the likelihood of entrenched criminal justice system involvement and adult imprisonment."

The Queensland election will be held in October, with current polling showing the LNP would likely win enough seats to form government.