Victoria will raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12, a decision advocates say ignores international best practices and will not improve child welfare.
The ABC understands the Victorian government is set to make the announcement as early as next week, as attorneys-general from across Australia prepare to meet in Darwin.
There has been a long running campaign from legal groups, social justice advocates and doctors to raise the age to 14, with the age raise also supported by the United Nations.
Premier Daniel Andrews has previously said that if there was no national agreement on raising the age of criminal responsibility, Victoria would act independently.
Senior government sources say Victoria will lift the age of criminal responsibility to 12 but may still leave murder and terrorism offences for 10 and 11-year-olds.
The policy is set to go to cabinet on Monday.
Some in the state government say raising the age to 12 as a "first step" — with the option of increasing the age again in the future — has not been ruled out.
Youth workers call for raising the age to 14
Raising the age to 12 will be a blow to advocates, including youth workers like Don Concha, who works in crime prevention with at-risk kids in Melbourne's west.
"With the young people that we are working with, they don't have the full mental capacity to understand the consequences of their actions, their brain hasn't fully developed," Mr Concha said.
"Even though they've done some crime that may seem extreme, you then see them playing Connect Four or video games and you realise they're just a kid."
Mr Concha said the younger people were when they entered the youth justice system, the more likely they were to reoffend.
"I don't think 12 [is old enough], they're still in grade 6, they haven't even done high school yet, they're still not even a teenager," Mr Concha said.
"I feel like 14 would be a much better outcome."
The government is still working out the complexity of lifting the age, with questions over what powers police would still have to deal with younger children who may be a risk to themselves or others.
"Victoria continues to work with other jurisdictions to consider the details involved in any increase to the age of criminal responsibility, but reserves the right to make further announcements in this space," a government spokesperson said.
Disadvantaged young people over-represented in criminal justice system
The government and advocates are also working out what should replace the criminal system for younger offenders and whether alternative models of justice and rehabilitation are needed.
Victoria's Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana Buchanan said the government would be ignoring international evidence if it did not raise the age to 14 and would continue harm on children.
"The science is clear. Children under 14 are too young to fully understand the impact of their actions. They're not appropriate to be held accountable for their behaviour in the criminal system,'' Ms Buchanan told the ABC.
She said children under 14 in the criminal justice system came from disadvantaged backgrounds, including the African community and Aboriginal Victorians.
The commissioner also said more than half were known to the child protection system.
"That means half have been victims of trauma and abuse and we're putting them into custody. We are criminalising what is often the direct abuse of what they have suffered,'' Ms Buchanan said.
The most recent data from the Productivity Commission shows Victoria has the lowest rate of youth detention in the country, with the average daily number for 2021-22 at 78 people. 10 of the 78 were Indigenous.
Crime Statistics Agency data
Age |
Number of alleged incidents in 2022 |
|---|---|
10 years |
65 |
11 years |
184 |
12 years |
800 |
13 years |
1,734 |
14 years |
3,099 |
First Nations groups have been some of the strongest voices advocating for Raise the Age, including Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission and the state's First People's Assembly.
According to the Raise the Age campaign, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were disproportionately represented in the almost 600 children recently imprisoned in Australia in a year.
According the government, as of April 19, there were no children aged 10, 11 or 12 years old in a Victorian youth justice custodial facility but there were 11 young people aged 13 and 14 years of age, none of whom identify as Aboriginal.
South Sudanese community urge for age raise, more support
In Victoria, South Sudanese youths are over-represented in the justice system. There's also an over-representation of youth from Pacific Islander communities.
Bol Machar is the chair of the Dinka Community Union, one of the key groups in the South Sudanese community.
He said involving teenagers in the youth justice system at a young age embedded them into a cycle of crime.
"They have a criminal record, so they don't have a future. They are not working anymore, they're not at the schools," Mr Machar said.
His community supports a move to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, and while he wants the age to increase, he also wants more support for at-risk families.
"We need government to support those young persons before having a contact with criminal justice system by providing a more support to engage them in schools, engage them on sports, and also support the family," Mr Machar said.
"If you provide the resources, you will actually prevent what we see now."
In 2022 there were 5,882 alleged criminal incidents involving 10-14 year olds in Victoria – 1,195 arrests were made with another 870 summons issued.
A snapshot of alleged offender incidents last year showed 65 incidents were recorded for 10-year-olds, 184 for 11-year-olds, with 800 offences for 12-year-olds, 1,734 for 13-year-olds and 3,099 for 14-year-olds.
According to data from the Crime Statistics Agency, the most common offences for 10 and 11-year-olds were criminal damage and assault.
