‘Storm the house’: Queensland care home receives threats after being wrongly identified as halfway house

Online posts urge violence against residents in care home after it was described as a place for ‘youth offenders’

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Children living in a Queensland residential care home were the subject of death threats on social media – including calls for neighbours to “storm the house” and “hang whoever is inside” – after media reports incorrectly claimed the premises was a halfway house for young criminals.

The head of the Queensland family and child commission, Scott Twyford, said last week he was “deeply concerned” at public sentiment which called for more punitive responses to youth crime in the face of clear evidence that “tough” approaches don’t work.

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