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NSW and ACT must follow Tasmania’s lead in raising the age of criminal responsibility
The Tasmanian government has made the decision to cease the incarceration of children under the age of 14 in a move that has been welcomed by the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT), which is now calling for the NSW and ACT governments to follow suit and raise the legal age of criminal responsibility to 14.
Adrian Suljanovic
This move followed the recent Review of Youth Justice Amendment (Searches in Custody) Bill 2022, which saw the end of routine strip searches being conducted by prison guards in children’s detention centres in Tasmania.
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Although the Tasmanian government has agreed to raise the minimum age of detention, the Aboriginal Legal Service stressed that children under 14 must still be protected from arrests, restraints and the court process.
“Children belong in schools and playgrounds, not behind bars. They deserve the opportunity to learn, and yet kids as young as 10 are being subjected to the trauma of arrest and imprisonment,” said Karly Warner, chief executive of the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT).
In March 2022, an NSW budget estimates hearing discovered that 293 children between the ages of 11 and 13 had spent time behind bars in 2021, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children being over-represented among them.
Ms Warner commented on the commitment that the NSW government has made with “Closing the Gap”, with the aim of reducing the rate of Indigenous youth in detention.
“Raising the age of legal responsibility is an evidence-based path to honouring this commitment. Experts from the Australian Medical Association to the Law Society of NSW have backed raising the age,” she said.
The Aboriginal Legal Service also has its sights set on ACT to do the same, with Ms Warner stating that despite showing “great leadership by being the first in Australia to make this commitment”, progress has now “stalled.”
The Tasmanian government’s decision has been welcomed; however, Ms Warner believes that the outcome would be more beneficial had they raised the legal age of criminal responsibility and that this does not protect them from “the broader harm caused by the criminal legal system”.
“It is vital to raise the minimum age of legal responsibility to 14 at the very least, with no exceptions and no carve-outs,” Ms Warner said.
