Commissioner for Children and Young People calls the age of criminal responsibility to be raised

There are growing calls for the state to raise the age of criminal responsibility and find “alternative ways to address children’s problematic behaviour”. HAVE YOUR SAY IN OUR POLL >>

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TASMANIA needs to be doing things differently when it comes to how to deal with youth offenders, says the Commissioner for Children and Young People.

Leanne McLean will present at an online forum about the minimum age of criminal responsibility on February 25.

The forum – The Age of Innocence: Children and Criminal Responsibility – will be hosted by the University of Tasmania as part of its Island of Ideas public lecture series.

Other presenters will include acting Deputy Commissioner of Tasmania Police Donna Adams, Amnesty International Australia Indigenous adviser Rodney Dillon and former chief magistrate Michael Hill.

Ms McLean said there had been ongoing calls from international and human rights bodies for Australian jurisdictions to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to at least 14 years and the forum would explore what this might mean for Tasmania.

Commissioner for Children and Young People Tasmania Leanne McLean. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

“The forum will also promote a community discussion on alternative ways to address children’s problematic behaviour, meet their underlying needs and promote community safety,” she said.

“Raising the age of criminal responsibility does not mean society turns a blind eye to problematic behaviour.”

Ms McLean said currently children as young as 10 years old can be arrested and even jailed. The age of criminal responsibility in Tasmania was as low as age 7 until 1999 when the Youth Justice Consequential Amendment Act was passed and it was raised to 10.

“While the vast majority children will never offend, evidence overwhelmingly shows us that it is our most vulnerable and disadvantaged children who come to the attention of the justice system at a young age,” she said.

“In Tasmania, the overall number of younger children in the justice system is relatively small, but children who offend at a young age are more likely to reoffend and become entrenched in the criminal justice system.

“The younger a child is when they have first contact with the justice system, the higher the chances of them reoffending.

“Clearly, we need to be doing things differently.”

Ms McLean said a welfare-based response across the board was needed.

“We need to ensure our health system is able to cater to everybody and we have appropriate mental health supports in place and our education system is set up to cater for people who are doing it tough and exhibiting risky behaviour.”

Register for the online forum here.