The recent roll back of the age of criminal responsibility by the Northern Territory (NT) government from 12 to 10 has been in hot discussion. At the global level, United Nations advice continues to pile more pressure on countries to increase the minimum age to 14. According to the NT government, it will be by this roll back that they curb the ever-increasing rate of youth crimes. A new set of laws was enacted to enable courts to deliver intervention programs for the young offenders so that whatever would have created those young offenders to commit the offenses is well dealt with. The most common causes have been break-ins and assaults.
But the shift has faced sharp criticism from the medical profession, human rights organization, and indigenous groups, who argue that such laws would hardly help in reducing crime and are definitely discriminatory against Aboriginal children. Right now, nearly all children jailed in the NT are Indigenous, and the region already jails children at 11 times the rate of any other Australian jurisdiction.
These include among others, an organization, 54 reasons, part of Save the Children Australia who argue that punitive measures like reducing criminal age and expanding police powers only serve to enforce cycles of reoffending rather than targeting the broader social issues that drive youth crime. Rather, they call for investment in early intervention, education, and culturally appropriate support services while noting that this latter is more practical in terms of promoting greater, community and long-term safety through better rehabilitation.
It has caused much controversy and sparked protest and even apprehensions about reversal of efforts for raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility throughout Australia.
