Victoria gets closer to raising age of criminal responsibility to 12 and banning spit hoods for children

The Victorian government’s amended youth justice bill has passed with an amendment introduced by the Greens to ban the use of spit hoods. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

The use of spit hoods on young people in Victorian prisons will be banned, after the Greens secured changes to a state government bill that will see the age of criminal responsibility raised from 10 to 12.

The upper house passed the 1,000-page youth justice bill about 2am on Friday, which includes a range of measures targeted at lowering the number of young people committing crimes.