By Kieran Rooney and Rachel Eddie
Victoria is set to go past its own deadline to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 by the end of the year, after introducing its mammoth 1000-page youth justice bill to parliament on Tuesday.
The Allan government conceded the change might not be implemented this year as first promised when the government committed to the policy in 2023. Ministers expected it could take place in early 2025.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan announces the youth justice legislation.Credit: AAP
While police would not be able to arrest a 10- or 11-year-old, officers could still take them to a station to stop them hurting themselves or someone else. The Human Rights Law Centre said allowing police to use limited force or transport children under 12 undermined the purpose of the reform.
Youth Justice Minister Enver Erdogan said the government still planned to eventually raise the age to 14, with exceptions for serious offences such as homicide or rape, and subject to an alternative service model that is currently being designed.
Aboriginal justice advocates and legal and health experts have campaigned for the government to immediately raise the age to 14 without exception.
The rule change is the centrepiece of a 1000-page bill that is the first piece of legislation dedicated solely to Victoria’s youth justice system.
It includes a scheme for warnings, cautions and early diversions that police will be able to use instead of formal charges for young offenders to avoid having them interact with the legal system.
“We know this works,” Premier Jacinta Allan said on Tuesday. “Evidence tells us that the earlier you can support young people to be diverted away from a life of crime to be put into supporting programs – that’s not just a good outcome for that young person. The evidence also tells us that that also strengthens community safety.”
When asked when the change to the age of criminal responsibility would be legislated, multiple ministers said 2025. “We’ve got to get the bill through parliament first,” Allan said.
A two-year trial of electronic monitoring will be legislated to address what Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes described as a rise in the number of serious offences by a small number of younger Victorians.
The capacity of the Children’s Court will be boosted with an additional magistrate to handle repeat offenders. The legal presumption known as doli incapax, which describes the inability of children to form criminal intent, will also be codified in the bill.
Community service and youth supervision orders will be made available to judges as less-severe options to consider, rather than sending children into custody.
Sentences for Aboriginal children will need to consider the child’s connection to culture, and the over-representation of First Nations people in the justice system.
Eligibility for youth justice facilities will be tightened for people aged between 18 and 21, with other reforms to make it easier to transfer some serious offenders aged over 16 to adult prison.
A youth victims justice register will allow victims of crime to receive updates on cases and provide information to the Youth Parole Board.
The bill will require the support of the crossbench in the upper house to pass. Symes said the government had introduced it to parliament before the winter break to give MPs and Victorians the opportunity to consider it properly before parliament resumes at the end of July.
She said she and Erdogan would “bring their toothbrushes” in preparation for the committee stage, when every clause of the bill is discussed and debated individually.
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Nerita Waight said the legislation would help keep young people out of the criminal justice system but it was disappointing bail reform for children had been dumped and that electronic monitoring would be trialled instead, as announced earlier this year. “Children do not thrive in prison,” she said.
Head of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Nerita Waight.
The Human Rights Law Centre’s managing lawyer, Monique Hurley, said the proposal fell short and risked further harming and criminalising children. Immediately raising the age to 14 was the “bare minimum” required.
“The Allan government has a choice: to continue turbocharging ‘tough on crime’ politics which fails children and communities, or to implement evidence-based alternatives which work and ensure that every child grows up with their family and community,” she said in a statement.
Police Minister Anthony Carbines confirmed the government was looking at introducing permanent zones where officers could search people for weapons without a warrant.
The Law Institute of Victoria’s manager of policy and advocacy, Donna Cooper, welcomed the government’s push to prevent young people entering the justice system. But she said there was no evidence ankle monitoring programs were effective or had positive effects.
Shadow attorney-general Michael O’Brien said the government’s changes would “redefine crime and pretend it isn’t happening”.
“Labor’s answer is simply to remove criminal responsibility from particular age groups and replace it with nothing,” he said.
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