Productivity Commission accuses NT of going backwards on youth crime by lowering age of criminal responsibility

In an unprecedented intervention in the youth crime debate from the PC, commissioners say tough on crime reforms promised by the CLP will instead increase youth offending.

The Productivity Commission has accused the Northern Territory Government of going backwards with policies that will lead to more youth crime and higher Indigenous incarceration rates.

Writing in the national broadsheet on Monday, commissioners Natalie Siegel-Brown and Selwyn Button said plans to lower the age of criminal responsibility were “actively putting the truck in reverse”.

“Why now step so far backwards, after finally making a step forward (by raising the age last year)? Especially after the compelling Northern Territory Royal Commission,” they said in The Australian.

“The apparent rationale by some governments for exacerbating already alarmingly high rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children over-represented in custody, by reversing progress in increasing the age of criminal responsibility, is that it will increase community safety from youth crime.

“In fact, the very opposite is true.

“Over and above the failures of incarceration to keep crime down, extensive global research now clearly shows that the younger a child is at their first contact with the criminal justice system, the greater their chances of future offending.

“Governments across this country signed up to the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, prioritising a commitment to partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. But partnership relies on a bedrock of trust, and trust is eroded or breached when governments knowingly contravene their own efforts at progress.

“But backward steps like this mean the entrenched inequality the agreement was designed to address will remain, or indeed worsen.”

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said Territorians had emphatically voted in favour of the CLP’s plan to tackle crime. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The comments mark an unprecedented intervention in the youth crime debate from the Productivity Commission, which serves as the federal government’s independent research and advisory body, aimed at improving policy.

It comes as the Country Liberal Party recorded a landslide election win last month, campaigning heavily on tough measures to reduce crime.

That included reversing the previous government’s reforms by lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10.

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the move was about “intervening early to help to turn children’s lives around so they do not fall into a life of crime”.

“Territorians voted emphatically for the CLPs plan to reduce crime which transparently included lowering the age of criminal responsibility so that we can intervene early and address the root causes of crime,” she said.

“We will deliver this reform in the first sitting of parliament as we committed, and as Territorians voted us to do.”

Opposition Leader Selena Uibo said it was concerning to see the CLP “reverting to old failed policy which will send the Territory backwards and continue the cycle of youth crime”.

“What will make a real difference in keeping our communities safe is continuing to invest in our front line services, extra resources into education and providing pathways to a job and away from a life of crime,” she said.

Originally published as Productivity Commission accuses NT of going backwards on youth crime by lowering age of criminal responsibility