The Victorian Government’s Backflip on raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 is a step backwards say Victoria’s Commission for Children and Young People.
“The decision to now abandon the staged move to 14 in 2027 has let children and young people down, particularly children from disadvantaged backgrounds, children who have experienced trauma, mental ill health or live with disability,” says Meena Singh, Victoria’s Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People.
“These are the children, and their families, who need holistic supports so that criminal behaviour does not ruin their lives, and create more victims of crime. Charging and imprisoning 12 and 13-year-olds does not make the community safe.
“By entrenching such young children in the justice system, rather than diverting them away from it, we are promoting their criminalisation, and making more serious offending at a later age more likely,” says commissioner Singh.
National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds says Victoria’s decision to walk away from a promise to raise the age of criminal responsibility will reverberate around the country. She told ABC RN Breakfast the decision is a “huge step backwards” and is a decision “not based in evidence.”
Read full release from The Commission for Children and Young People in Victoria,
Media coverage: ABC PM, SBS coverage and The Age