Experts say law and order policies proposed by Queensland's Liberal National Party will make the community less safe, despite the Opposition's promises to reduce crime.

LNP leader David Crisafulli, who polling suggests will win October's state election, has run a campaign against crime with a promise to make Queensland safer. He has committed to victim numbers being lower under a government he runs.

"There will be less victim numbers, I can assure you that," he told AAP on Wednesday, arguing there had been a "failure" across all sections of the justice and rehabilitation system to prevent crime.

"What's happening at the moment with youth justice is a failure at both ends of the spectrum."

The LNP leader pointed to the number of Queenslanders who had been victims of physical crimes over the weekend, which he said has "surged 193 per cent since Labor watered down youth crime laws in 2015".

BREAKING: The number of Queenslanders becoming victims of physical crime has surged by 193% since Labor watered down youth crime laws in 2015

— David Crisafulli (@DavidCrisafulli) September 14, 2024

While Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows the state's young offender population increased six per cent to 10,878 in 2023, Queensland Police data showed child offender rates had dropped by 18 per cent since 2012/2013.

"It's a failure to send a strong message around consequences for actions for the hard, repeat young offenders.

"But it's also a failure to provide structure and support and compassion to turn kids around."

However, the LNP policy "adult crime, adult time" has been criticised by experts, who say while there is community concern around crime and the current approach is failing, the LNP policy will do nothing to prevent crime and will make the community less safe in the long run.

Principal Solicitor at YFS Legal, Candice Hughes, told National Indigenous Times the policy proposal to treat children as adults was "illogical".

"Many of these young people also experience neurological or mental health challenges, yet they are subjected to punitive measures that disregard their vulnerabilities," she said.

"This makes no sense and is an affront to the human rights of young people. This policy will disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who are imprisoned at disproportionate rates all over this country."

Data revealed almost half of the Indigenous children in custody in Australia on an average day last year were in Queensland.

Ms Hughes said her position has always been that to keep the community safe, therapeutic and rehabilitative services that are community based and led were needed, rather than the "current punitive focus".

"Detention does not work and there are a number of reports that support this position, which are ignored," she said.

Earlier this year, Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes argued the policy promoted by the LNP would fail.

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

"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."

Furthermore, the latest data shows most of the assaults and sexual offences committed in Queensland are by men—who are rarely mentioned in media coverage when it comes to crime crack downs.

Premier Steven Miles said on Monday on the LNP policy: "They've been very explicit that they see their path to victory is one based on talking about youth crime and in particular adult sentences for youth offenders."

"That's their number one policy."

However, Mr Miles' government have twice suspended the Human Rights Act - to allow children to be held in adult watch houses and to criminalise youth breaches of bail - in the last 18 moths, in an move human rights groups described as a "race to the bottom" with the LNP.

Ms Hughes says children are often used as scapegoats, noting the abandonment of bail as a last resort by the Queensland government - a principle in the United Nations' convention on the Rights of the Child, which Australia has signed and ratified - was not replicated for adults.

"The agenda of youth offending is being pushed by mainstream media and pushed by both the current and opposition governments leading up to the election, when adult male offending remains the highest impact and occurrences," she said.

"It is vital that there is meaningful involvement by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives, organisations, and communities in the development of these policies and reforms."

Child Commissioner Anne Hollonds has previously said youth crime is given disproportionate coverage in the media, arguing some organisations recycle the same CCTV, phone or security camera footage of youth engaging in criminal behaviour for multiple stories, giving viewers the impression of more crimes being committed than actually are.

With AAP