Allan government backflips on plan to raise age of criminal responsibility to 14

Premier Jacinta Allan has backed down on a plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 amid a wave of youth crime sweeping the state.

The Allan government has scrapped a plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14.

Premier Jacinta Allan on Tuesday said the legislation before parliament would raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 but would not go any further.

“That is where it will stay,” she said.

Ms Allan said an initial pledge by former premier Daniel Andrews to raise the age to 14 was no longer appropriate.

“This decision has been made at a different time by a different government and a different premier,” she said.

Police Commissioner Shane Patton welcomed the suite of amendments on Tuesday, calling them a win for community safety.

“What does that mean in reality for us? I would imagine, and I would forecast, that we would see more people being remanded, a harder approach on those high end offenders,” he said.

Mr Patton said there was still some concern among police about 10 and 11-year-old offenders but said the cohort was “very small”.

He said offenders in the age bracket were also usually committing “much less serious offences”.

“It’s something that we believe we’ll be able to manage,” he said.

The backflip on the age of criminal responsibility has been welcome by Victoria Police. Picture: Supplied

It comes as landmark youth justice reforms are set to be wound back, with new laws to make it tougher for violent ­offenders to be released back into the community.

Under changes cabinet signed off on Monday, bail laws will be toughened to mandate magistrates and judges refuse bail if there’s an unacceptable risk a person would commit a serious crime.

They would include aggravated burglary or robbery, dangerous driving, carjacking or home invasion.

Repeat offenders would also face tougher fights for freedom, with a new offence of committing particularly serious crimes while on bail – including aggravated burglary, carjacking, murder and rape – to be introduced.

The offence would target “high-harm crimes”, and avoid those caught committing lower-level offences.

Police Commissioner Shane Patton says the suite of amendments is a win for community safety. Picture: David Crosling

Laws will also encourage police to seek revocation of bail for repeat offenders.

“We’re strengthening the bail test to make it clear that serious offending must have serious consequences,” a government spokeswoman said.

“These changes make clear the expectation of Victorians and give serious repeat offenders nowhere to hide.”

The government will also see to establish a new Council on Bail, Rehabilitation and Accountability (COBRA), a taskforce aimed at halting the worsening youth crime crisis.

The group will be tasked with exploring what is driving the actions of an estimated group of up to 200 reoffenders and how to stop it from continually happening.

COBRA will be required to inform government of any trends, concerns or ideas to end the scourge.

Premier Jacinta Allan has dropped plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14. Picture: David Crosling

The changes come less than two months after the government unveiled a suite of reforms to the youth justice system. A move to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 was the centrepiece of the changes.

Under the proposed reforms, which the opposition does not support, a legislated scheme for warnings, cautions and early diversion would encourage police to avoid charging children.

Electronic monitoring would also be legislated as an optional bail condition for children.

And the doli incapax principle – the presumption that a child aged 10 to 14 is incapable of criminal intent – would also be written into the legislation.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto, who has been campaigning for the age of criminal responsibility to remain at 10, said the changes didn’t go far enough.

“Premier Allan today is pretending that she and her government will do what’s necessary to keep Victorians safe when nobody will believe that,” he said.

“What we’re seeing with today’s youth justice announcements is more evidence that the Allan Labor government is mired in chaos and dysfunction. It has no direction, it has no purpose and its objectives for Victorians are totally unclear.”

John Pesutto has opposed raising the criminal age. Picture: David Crosling

Shadow Attorney-General Michael O’Brien said despite the changes, bail laws remain “softer and weaker” than they were in March when bail reforms passed the parliament.

“This is a weak, chaotic change from a weak, chaotic government that isn’t putting community safety first,” he said.

Police Association of Victoria boss Wayne Gatt said stability, a focus on community protection and the rights of victims of crime should be the government’s primary concern.

“Police members grow frustrated by the constant yoyo effect of tightening and loosening legislation that impacts community safety,” he said.

“The government’s endless vacillation on law and order issues demoralises police members, who devote their career to the protection of victims of crime and the community.

“The impact of legislative changes in the law and order space are felt for years after they are made, in some cases decades.”

Opposition police spokesman Brad Battin said youth crime in Victoria is “out of control”, while Mr Pesutto added that the government had failed to respond to the youth crime crisis.

“All the evidence is in (and) Premier Allan and her government are soft on crime and are not prepared to put community safety first when it comes to violent offenders,” Mr Pesutto said.

Since unveiling the reforms the government has been forced into a series of crisis meetings to address increasing community angst amid a spate of high-profile and often fatal youth crimes.

The latest involved Preston motorcyclist Davide Pollina, 19, who died in the early hours of Sunday when he was hit by a BMW police say was stolen by youths.

He was the third innocent Victorian this year killed by out-of-control teenagers.

The government has repeatedly committed to raising the criminal age of responsibility to 12 but has walked back public support for fulfilling a commitment to further raise the age to 14 by 2027.

Youth crime has spiked in Victoria. Picture: Supplied

Speculation had been mounting in recent weeks that the government was preparing to backflip. Legal groups had demanded Ms Allan reaffirm her commitment to the policy.

Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe accused the Allan government of making the “wrong choices for children”.

Senator Thorpe said the “weak backdown” on raising the age of criminal responsibility followed funding cuts to a youth support service crime prevention program.

She called on the federal government to do more to address evidence of abuse and neglect occurring in child prisons nationwide saying it was a “national crisis”.

“I am calling on the Prime Minister, the new Indigenous Australians Minister, the Attorney-General to act now,” Senator Thorpe said.

“They need to reign in the states and start leading positive change.

“They need to work with First Peoples, and the health and community sectors, to create strong federal frameworks that hold the states and territories accountable and stop the abuse,” she said.

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Nerita Waight said she felt “betrayed by (the government’s) treacherous decision to abandon our children”.

“Many of these politicians are parents themselves but their children will never be subjected to racist policing, never be denied access to the supports they need, and never be thrown away,” she said.

“It will be very hard for Aboriginal communities to trust this government now that we know she will ditch their commitments.”

Senator Lidia Thorpe has slammed the Allan government for its ‘weak backdown’. Picture: Martin Ollman

Greens leader Ellen Sandell blasted the backflip, calling it “heartless” and a “complete betrayal” of First Nations communities.

“The Victorian Premier has shown us what weak and cowardly leadership looks like,” she said.

“This is a shameful day for Victoria — a state that was once leading the way and supposedly progressive but in fact is no longer.

“The Victorian Premier is walking away from progressive reform on a number of fronts and this is just the latest example of that.”

Yoorrook Justice Commission chair Eleanor Bourke called on the government to “urgently reconsider its decision”.

“We cannot underestimate the tsunami of disappointment that this announcement will create for First Peoples communities,” Prof Bourke said.

“This decision is so contrary to the evidence it is difficult to comprehend – evidence heard by Yoorrook and countless other inquiries, commissions and coronial inquests over a period of decades.”

There are no 10 or 11-year-olds in remand or serving a sentence order in Victoria.

The government said there had not been for years.

Australian Association of Convenience Stores chief executive Theo Foukkare says the announcement is a step in the right direction. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Offences committed by 10 and 11-year-olds in the last year made up just 0.1 per cent of all offences, which has been consistent for some time.

Australian Association of Convenience Stores chief executive Theo Foukkare, whose members have been subject to a wave of armed robberies, said Tuesday’s announcement was a step in the right direction.

Mr Foukkare said his members had been terrorised by armed youth offenders stealing cigarettes and alcohol across Melbourne in recent months.

He said convicted young thugs should be banned from retail settings as an added consequence.

“We have seen time and time again that youth offenders have increased their level of aggression during aggravated burglaries putting frontline retail workers in harm’s way when they are simply doing their job,” he said.

“If repeat youth offenders are going to commit adult offences, then they should face adult time, with real consequences to instil confidence in the community.

“Victoria Police need to be commended for their efforts to arrest these offenders, but they are getting out on bail and offending in no time, sometimes straight from the courthouse to offending again.

“We eagerly await the details of the proposed legislation to determine if they will be fit for purpose and make a real difference in practice.”