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This was published 3 years ago
Most Australians already think age of criminal responsibility is 14: poll
By Matt Dennien
More than half of Australians support the minimum age of criminal responsibility being raised from 10, amid a growing international campaign for the change backed by legal experts, doctors and justice groups.
In fact, polling commissioned by Amnesty International Australia reveals two-thirds of Australians already believe the minimum age of criminal responsibility is 14.
The survey came as the Queensland government begins public hearings into contentious youth justice reforms and after 31 United Nations member states called on Australia to raise the age in line with other jurisdictions.
Australia’s Council of Attorneys-General deferred any decision on the change for another year at a meeting in July 2020, with a working group led by the West Australian Justice Department tasked with investigating alternatives to imprisonment.
Queensland has become a focus for debate around youth justice in recent months after high-profile cases involving young offenders led the Palaszczuk government to announce reforms making it harder for repeat offenders to get bail.
A series of public hearings into the laws began in the state this week, with submissions from lawyers warning a proposed GPS tracker trial could further inflame vigilantism and concerns from the Queensland Human Rights Commission they could cause “more harm than good”.
An Essential Research poll of 1092 people between January 27 and February 1 this year found only one in 10 Australians knew the correct age of 10, with 68 per cent believing it was 14 or above.
A total of 56 per cent supported calls from the UN along with experts globally and in Australia in raising the minimum age to 14, with 33 per cent opposed and 11 per cent unsure. The older people initially thought the minimum age was, the more likely they were to support raising it to 14, the survey found.
Amnesty International Australia’s Indigenous rights lead Nolan Hunter said a wealth of evidence pointed to children being more likely to reoffend if they were locked up, with diversion programs far more effective in tackling crime done by some of the most vulnerable young people.
Mr Hunter added that with Indigenous children being imprisoned at a rate of 25 times more than their non-Indigenous peers, it was also “disingenuous at best” to not categorise the matter as an Indigenous issue.
“When we improve the situation of vulnerable kids, we improve our society as a whole,” he said.
The UN was told in January it would be up to each Australian jurisdiction to decide whether to raise the minimum age as a total of 31 UN member states used the meeting to call for the change as part of the UN Human Rights Council’s universal periodic review process.
Both the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory have flagged an intention to do so. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said there were no plans for her state to.
Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter said at the time he had personally “not been an enthusiast” for the move, with prosecutors already facing a higher bar in having to prove those aged between 10 and 14 knew their conduct was wrong.
Lobbying from groups such as the Law Council of Australia, Australasian College of Physicians and Indigenous-led Change the Record coalition has argued detaining young children only entrenched criminality and the brain development of children under 14 meant they did not understand the consequences of their actions.