Save articles for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.
The Andrews government has resisted a push from advocacy groups and some cabinet ministers to immediately raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, instead opting for a staggered approach while more safeguards are put in place.
The move has sparked criticism from Indigenous, legal, medical and social groups for not going far enough, fast enough. Police and the opposition, however, are concerned it could lead to a spike in crime, particularly property and robbery offences.
Cabinet ministers on Monday approved a plan to lift the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12, with no exceptions.
That will rise to 14 by 2027, but cabinet is yet to decide if there will be exceptions for serious offences, such as murder and terrorism. However, ministers are expecting that to be the case, according to a senior government source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss internal matters.
Victoria’s move comes ahead of a meeting of attorneys-general from across Australia on Friday to discuss a national approach to raising the age of criminal responsibility.
Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes told cabinet on Monday that work would also be undertaken to strengthen doli incapax – the legal construct that children under the minimum age of criminal responsibility cannot form criminal intent. If a child is aged over 10 years but under 14, there is a common law presumption of doli incapax – but lawyers say it is not functioning as it should.
The senior government source said Symes wanted to codify the legal protection for children and make it more rigorous. Legal groups, including the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, say doli incapax is fraught with problems and could hold up court cases, leading to children remaining on remand for longer than needed while a judge decided whether the child was capable of forming criminal intent.
Some ministers during the cabinet meeting argued for the government to immediately lift the age of criminal responsibility to 14, in line with the evidence and calls from experts, but were told the state needed to put in safeguards first.
However, police are privately concerned that lifting the age could lead to a spike in property crime that they would be powerless to prevent.
Children as young as 10 can be arrested, charged with a crime, held on remand and jailed in juvenile detention, but momentum has been growing to lift the minimum age of culpability in line with evidence about child development, international norms and human rights standards.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Attorney General Jaclyn SymesCredit: Paul Jeffers
There are no children aged 10 to 12 in custody, according to the Victorian government. Of the 11 children aged 13 or 14 who are in custody, all are believed to be on remand and none of them are Indigenous. Aboriginal people are disproportionately overrepresented in the criminal justice system.
The Standing Council of Attorneys-General started reviewing the imprisonment of children in late 2018 in response to concerns Australia was not in line with the rest of the world, where the most common age of criminal responsibility is 14. The Northern Territory passed legislation last year to lift the minimum age to 12, while the ACT is preparing to introduce laws into parliament to raise the age to 12, and then to 14 in two years.
According to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data released last month, 8982 children were supervised during 2021-22 nationwide, with 96 per cent aged 14 and over and more than three-quarters of young people in custody were on remand. It also found more than half of Australian children in detention had interacted with the child protection system in the five years to July 2021.
“There is a massive over-representation of children [in the criminal justice system] who are already in the care of the state,” said Liana Buchanan, the Commissioner for Children and Young People.
Victorian Children’s Commissioner Liana Buchanan says multiple systems failed to protect vulnerable children.Credit: Justin McManus
“They suffered trauma and then got caught up in the justice system often because of failures of the state’s capacity to care for them … We failed them in the care system, and then we failed them through a criminal justice system response.”
Buchanan said evidence showed that the younger child had contact with police, the more likely they were to reoffend into adulthood. She said the youth justice system needed more focus on early intervention and the government must better fund services for vulnerable children and families to identify the causes of their offending.
The Productivity Commission this year estimated that Victoria spends $5050 a day on detaining children in custody – more than 10 times the $400 the state spends housing adult prisoners, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology.
“We spend a very significant amount holding children in custody, and for young people they’re mostly held on remand, as well as in court and legal fees,” Buchanan said.
“A service response will cost money, but we do have existing services [that can be scaled up]. Any cost for intensive wraparound services will be far less than what we are currently paying to take them to court.“
First Peoples’ Assembly co-chair and Bangerang and Wiradjuri elder Aunty Geraldine Atkinson said the Andrews government’s changes were the “worst standard permitted under international law”.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians warned that many children in the youth justice system had significant neurodevelopmental disability and other physical and mental health issues that were compounded by incarceration.
Michael Stanton, president of civil liberties group Liberty Victoria, said it was a “weak decision from a government still paranoid about being wedged on law and order instead of committing to evidence-based reform”.
“The Victorian government has ignored repeated calls from First Peoples and medical and legal experts,” he said. “We must raise the age to at least 14, with no exceptions.”
Shadow attorney-general Michael O’Brien said raising the age of criminal responsibility meant 10 and 11-year-old children who knowingly commit crimes, including against other children, would not be held accountable for their actions.
“It is for Labor to explain how this will promote a safer or more just community,” O’Brien said. “At a time when Victoria’s child protection services are in crisis, this proposal is no substitute for tackling the root causes of youth crime.”
Victoria Police said it was a matter for the government.
An Andrews government spokeswoman said the state was finalising its position ahead of Friday’s meeting of attorneys-general. “We will have more to say on the details of this in due course,” the spokeswoman said.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.
Most Viewed in Politics
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article
