Petition with more than 26,000 signatures calls to raise age of criminal responsibility

The police union has weighed in on the debate over raising the age of criminal responsibility in Queensland, and fears of a generation of “invisible criminals”. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers says the age of criminal responsibility in Queensland should stay at 10, otherwise it would create a generation of “invisible criminals”.

“Police don’t want to arrest juvenile offenders or have them held in watch-houses, but the community do expect consequences for bad behaviour,” he said.

“When police interact with young offenders they have success in diverting 90 per cent of youth offenders away from criminal behaviour, and they don’t become involved in the criminal justice system again, but other government and support agencies need to do their bit.”

A petition with more than 26,000 signatures calling to raise the criminal age of responsibility to 14 was to be delivered to Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman on Monday, following a heated debate in Parliament last week.

Queensland is now the fourth state government to be presented with a petition in favour of the change, after attorneys-general nationwide agreed the Age of Criminal Responsibility Working Group would continue to develop a proposal to increase the minimum age.

Mr Leavers said the QPU has previously led the way in finding solutions for other states and territories dealing with similar youth crime issues.

“The National Youth Crime symposium we arranged confirmed a national strategy would be helpful but Queensland cannot wait around for every other jurisdiction to align,” he said.

“Police need to have the tools and support to divert offenders but also the legislation to take action against that hard core group of serious offenders.”

There are 26,853 signatures on the petition, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (Qld) CEO Shane Duffy saying it was time to implement more strategies before turning to detention.

“It’s time we look at community-based and led solutions, and invest in the root causes or drivers of why these children come into the criminal justice system – and eventually detention – in the first place. We need more services, not sentences,” Mr Duffy said.

Attorney General Shannon Fentiman. Picture: NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

PeakCare Queensland Executive Director Lindsay Wegener said the current laws were “dangerous and cruel”.

“It is also about ensuring that they are not handcuffed, fingerprinted, stripsearched, thrown before a court where the proceedings are beyond their comprehension, and being held in watch houses overnight, or often for much longer periods of time,” he said.

Earlier this year, former Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said he didn’t personally support raising the age to 14 and instead suggested a “hybrid” model where younger children would still be held responsible for serious crimes.

“For 10 to 12-year-olds, hypothetically, serious crime would still be in scope – so murder, rape, armed robbery and violent and serious crime is still in scope – but perhaps offences that are regarded as less serious would not be,” he said in his address to the Community Support and Services Committee’s public hearing in February.

“It would be fundamentally important though, that if we were to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to any other age, that there is a capacity to properly and effectively deal with young people who otherwise would be committing offences.”

It comes as the Greens introduced a private member’s Bill in parliament last week to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 with Greens MP Michael Berkman saying the state could lead the national reform.

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman said the government’s priority was to keep the community safe and said raising the age would have to be underpinned by an alternative response to offenders.

Katter’s Australia Party MP Nick Dametto opposed the increase, saying people shouldn’t think a child between the ages of 10 and 14 “does not know right from wrong”.