Law Reform: Age of Criminal Responsiblity

In all Australian jurisdictions, a child under 10 years cannot be found guilty of a criminal offence. This is generally consistent with standards in common law countries. Between 10 and 14 years, the prosecution must prove that the child knew their conduct was wrong before they can be convicted of an offence (called the doctrine of doli incapax). Despite it being part of the law in all jurisdictions, not all jurisdictions have included the doctrine in relevant legislation. This means the application of doli incapax in practice is not uniform across Australian states and territories.

Prison should not be a rite of passage for any child. Yet, in Australia, children as young as 10 can be imprisoned. This is a national tragedy recognised by both the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Law Council of Australia (LCA). That is why our organisations are calling on all levels of government – state, territory and federal – to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) to 14. This would bring Australia into line with international human rights standards and medical consensus on child brain development.

As states and territories look to raise the age of criminal responsibility, researchers in Melbourne have been studying children aged 10 to 13 who are involved in crime

The New South Wales Labor government says it's considering raising the age of criminal responsibility. In 2021, Australian states and territories agreed to develop a plan to raise the age that children can be sent to jail to 12. The Northern Territory passed legislation last year to lift the minimum age to 12

The Victorian government will raise the age of criminal responsibility, with the plan set to go to State Cabinet next week. But the ABC understands the state will only lift the age from 10 to 12 and not to 14, as has been demanded by legal groups, doctors, First Nations groups and the United Nations. Boxing is just one of the tools Don Concha uses to keep young kids in Melbourne's west out of prison.

ABC News NT

NITV News

Community anxiety about youth crime in Queensland has led the state government to propose a bill that will allow them to charge children with criminal offences if they breach bail conditions. Juvenile detention in the state is already at capacity and there are concerns those changes will result in more arrests and more young people in custody. The bill is expected to be debated early next week.

One of the most difficult areas of criminal justice policy lies in providing appropriate legal mechanisms to reflect the transition from the age of childhood innocence through to maturity and full responsibility under the criminal law. Along with specialised institutions such as Children’s Courts and juvenile detention centres, specific legal rules have been developed which differentiate the position of children and young people within the general criminal justice system. Considerable recent attention has been directed towards rules governing the minimum age of criminal responsibility, and the imposition of criminal responsibility above that age depending on a young offender’s appreciation of the wrongness of his or her act. This Trends and Issues paper examines the operation of these rules, along with criticisms and prospects for reform.

Abstract - Australian Law Journal

Abstract - Australian Law Journal

The minimum age of criminal responsibility in Australia is 10 years. The topic of raising the age of criminal responsibility remains a fraught and challenging field of both study and thought. Despite overwhelming evidence to support an increase in the minimum age of criminal responsibility, there remains a resolute opposition in the majority of States in Australia that this age should be raised

Uncle Rodney Dillon attended a meeting of the NTEU Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy Committee (A&TSIPC) to seek our support for Amnesty International’s campaign to raise the age of criminal responsibility in Australia

Australian and New Zealand Social Work and Welfare Education and Research

The Guardian

The campaign to raise the age of criminal responsibility across Australia is gaining momentum, but what is currently happening and what does this all mean for human rights and Indigenous rights?

For most of us who have children, teach children, live with children or know children, the idea that misbehaving children are criminals is absurd. Research undertaken this year by Change the Record and the Australia Institute revealed only 7 per cent of Australians knew that children as young as 10 years old could be stopped by the police, arrested, hauled before a court, and thrown into youth detention centres for their ‘crimes’. Instead, the majority of Australians believed a child had – and ought – to be at least 14 years old to be held criminally responsible

Criminal Law Journal - Abstract

Youth justice in Australia: Themes from recent inquiries

Crime data shows 13-year-olds are charged with four times more aggravated burglaries, five times more car thefts and four times more aggravated robberies than 12-year-olds, highlighting the task facing the Andrews government as it debates what offences will be exempted when the age of criminal responsibility lifts.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare