‘Empty commitment’ does nothing to help children: Raise the Age Coalition

The Raise the Age Coalition has condemned the decision of the Meeting of Attorneys-General to develop a plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility to only 12 years old as inadequate and failing to improve the lives of children and young people.

This is an empty announcement that does nothing to change the lives of children who are dragged into the criminal legal system. The medical evidence is clear: governments should raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years as a bare minimum.

We call on the Attorneys-General to abandon this half-baked proposal and rather commit to doing the right thing by our children and community and to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years.

Many 12 year olds are still in primary school and 13 year olds are only just preparing to start high school for the first time. If governments only raise the age to 12 years old, then 456 out of the 499 children under 14 in prison last year will remain locked away behind bars.

This empty proposal announced by the Attorneys-General today would do nothing to support these children.

Three years ago Attorneys-General committed to explore options to raise the age. All they have done since then is kick the can down the road, while almost 500 children under the age of 14 languished behind bars last year alone.

Last year dozens of community organisations, legal, health and First Nations experts made submissions to the Attorneys General calling for the minimum age of criminal responsibility to be raised to at least 14. Only the ACT has taken action in line with this expert advice.

If Covid has taught governments anything, it’s that you can’t pick and choose what medical advice you follow. The doctor’s orders are clear: raise the age to at least 14 years old.

Endorsed by Raise the Age Steering Committee members: