The National Children’s Commissioner has called for increased child wellbeing policies to bring down levels of youth crime while reiterating that detaining children at a younger age would only worsen the crisis.
The age of criminal responsibility isn’t the reason why the justice system “is broken” for youth perpetrators, says Sky News host Amanda Stoker.
“Contact with consequences for our actions is needed to get on the straight and narrow, but there need to be programs and resources to get people into shape should they end up there, and to break the intergenerational cycles that feed the social dysfunction that manifests as crime,” Ms Stoker said.
“The system is broken, but the age of responsibility is not the reason for the break.”
In an exclusive interview with Sky News Australia, commissioner Anne Hollonds doubled down on the decision by several jurisdictions to raise the minimum age of convictions for a criminal offence, saying the move would help better manage the youth crime crisis in the country to which governments are “struggling to know how to respond”.
“Unfortunately, in Australia we are quite parochial when it comes to this issue and it has been frankly neglected for a long time,” Ms Hollonds told Sky News host Chris Kenny.
National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollands addressed the country’s growing youth crime crisis, calling for increased reforms to children’s wellbeing. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts.
“You know kids should be in school, not in jail, to ensure that they’re getting help for their disabilities.
“The evidence shows that the younger you lock up a child, the more likely they are going to go on to commit more crimes.”
Currently, the age of criminal responsibility is 10 years of age across the country, with the exception of the Northern Territory where it is 12 years.
In May, the ACT government introduced a legislation amendment bill to parliament to increase the minimum age to 12 in the first stage of the process, and eventually to 14 by July 2025. The Victorian state jurisdiction also confirmed it would raise the bar from 10 to 12.
This reform would inch Australia closer to being in line with the international standard of 14 years as the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
Itâs our attitudes & behaviours as âadultsâ that are barriers to evidence-based systems reform. Time for bipartisan commitment to make child health, learning and wellbeing a national priority. https://t.co/I0EOwQKZOH
— Anne Hollonds (@AnneHollonds) June 2, 2023
Ms Hollonds highlighted that in countries where the age had already been raised – most of them developed economies like Australia – the focus was instead being placed on protocols targeted at addressing the underlying social issues driving youth crime in the first place.
“Internationally where they have raised the age… the world has not fallen in,” she said.
“They are investing in diversionary programs early on to ensure that kids go back to school.
“These kids have very high rates of neurological problems, they have learning problems, impulse control problems, information processing problems and mental health disorders and they’re not getting help for those sorts of problems.
“So things get out of whack and they end up on the streets, out of school… doing crime.
“These kids come from very complex backgrounds, often suffering child maltreatment and domestic and family violence in their homes.”
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The Children’s Commissioner stressed that youth crime rates could only be curbed if reforms surrounding the wellbeing of children were prioritised alongside.
“We have not spent enough time looking at how to fix those basic public service systems of health, mental health, education and social services including housing,” Ms Hollonds said.
“When you talk to these kids and their families, they cannot get the help they need for drug and alcohol problems, for those sorts of issues that adults have. It’s pretty much a mess.
“We should be actually helping these kids and supporting them to get on the right track, to stay at school, supporting their families, so that they’re not doing crime and all of us would benefit from that.”
Victoria to raise age of criminal responsibility
According to the National Mental Health Commission, 50 per cent of all adult mental health challenges develop before the age of 14.
Although a national child wellbeing strategy was released in 2021 drafting a 10-year framework to protect young people and their families, no policies aimed at child wellbeing are currently legislated in the country.
Statistics suggest that Australia is at 32nd place out of 40 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations in relation to child wellbeing.
The youth crime crisis is plaguing the country at present, with the situation especially significant in the NT.
More than 70 serious youth offenders living in Qld state housing
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Alice Springs has recorded some of the highest levels of crime in recent times, with many blaming the lift on the alcohol ban for the escalated wave.
Indigenous children are particularly overrepresented in detention centres, with an incarceration rate nearly quadruple the rate of non-Indigenous imprisonment.
According to recent ABS data, the numbers of youth offenders increased by five per cent over the 2021-2022 financial year, despite a seven per cent decrease in total offenders.
The regions of Port Augusta, Laverton, Townsville, and Toowoomba have also experienced high levels of youth crime lately.