Doctors call for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 14 – and say locking up children as young as 10 is a ‘national tragedy’
- Locking up kids as young as 10 is a national tragedy, lawyers and doctors say
- ‘Prison should not be a rite of passage for any child,’ a joint statement said
- Aboriginal kids 23 times more likely than non-indigenous children to be jailed
Locking up kids as young as 10 is a national tragedy, and stops them from living long, productive lives, Australia’s lawyers and GPs say.
The Law Council of Australia and the Australian Medical Association teamed up on Tuesday, calling on the government to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14.
‘Prison should not be a rite of passage for any child,’ a joint statement said.
Locking up kids as young as 10 is a national tragedy, and stops them from living long, productive lives, Australia’s lawyers and GPs say (file picture)
‘Communities and society will not be safer or healthier if children are in prison.’
They warn children who go to jail are less likely to finish school, find a job and more likely to die an early death.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are 23 times more likely than non-indigenous children to be jailed.
‘It does not make communities safer. The attorneys-general know this is the case,’ Law Council president Arthur Moses said.
‘It is time that they showed some courage and leadership to implement these changes.’
AMA president Dr Tony Bartone says the jailing of children was unacceptable.
‘These children often experience violence, abuse, disability, homelessness, and drug or alcohol misuse,’ Dr Bartone said.
‘Criminalising the behaviour of young and vulnerable children creates a vicious cycle of disadvantage.’
Attorney-General Christian Porter has pushed back against the idea, saying last month the system was working ‘relatively well’.
He said a change in the age was a matter for the states and territories but a working group was reviewing the issue, with a report due to Australia’s attorneys-general in 2020.
The joint statement from the Law Council and AMA points to Facebook restricting access to children under 13, children under 12 being unable to travel by plane alone and some states requiring parental permission for ear piercings for under-16s.
Advocates for raising the criminal age say children may not be mentally developed enough to be held criminally responsible.
While there is a provision that allows lawyers to argue a child did not understand their criminal actions were morally wrong, this was hard to prove in court, the joint statement said.
The groups also said locking up kids was a ‘false economy’, costing taxpayers $500,000 to keep a young Australian in jail for a year.
Mr Moses said more than half of children in detention are unsentenced, having been detained by police before court or on remand awaiting trial or sentencing.
The United Nations recommends the minimum criminal age of responsibility be 14 but all Australian states and territories have set it at 10.