The state government has been under pressure to defend its response after three people were killed in a collision this week involving a stolen Mercedes allegedly driven by a 13-year-old boy in Maryborough.
"Nearly everybody in that community knew one of the people who were killed," Ms Palaszczuk told Nine's Today program on Friday.
"It has been very upsetting and I think there's not a Queenslander that is not touched by this tragedy in some way."
Queensland's parliament in March passed a raft of laws targeting young people, including harsher prison terms for car thieves and new penalties for people who boast about crime on social media.
The changes also make it a crime for a child to breach their bail conditions, allow GPS trackers on children as young as 15 and let courts declare certain youths serious repeat offenders.
"I cant stop every single instance of youth crime, but we can throw everything at it," Ms Palaszczuk said.
Posting crimes to social media can encourage copycat behaviour, and platforms such as Facebook can do more to "clamp down" on publication, the premier added.
Ms Palaszczuk said the Queensland laws passed earlier this year are "the toughest in Australia" and were voted on by both sides of politics.
"They will take time to take effect," she said.
"We've given the courts the laws, and now the courts have the opportunity to use those laws."
The state also boosted funding to early intervention programs that are making some "really substantial changes", Ms Palaszczuk said.
