Criminal age to stay

Political parties won’t commit to national approach to keep young out of jail

NONE of the Territory’s three major political parties will commit to keeping children as young as 10 out of prison by raising the age of criminal responsibility despite a heightened push from legal experts, doctors and justice groups.

The party responses come as Australia’s state and federal attorneys-general are due to meet and discuss raising the age of criminal responsibility at a meeting nearly a year in the making tomorrow.

NONE of the Territory’s three major political parties will commit to keeping children as young as 10 out of prison by raising the age of criminal responsibility, despite a heightened push from legal experts, doctors and justice groups.

The noncommittal positions of NT Labor and Territory Alliance, and the rejection of the idea by the CLP, come as

Australia’s state and federal attorneys-general are due to meet on Monday and discuss raising the age of criminal responsibility.

The meeting has been nearly a year in the making.

A spokeswoman for Territory Attorney-General Natasha Fyles said the NT would “collaborate” with other jurisdictions on a national approach, but did not commit to making the change.

She said the NT had supported in-principle all recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Detention and Protection of Children which, among its 227 recommendations, asks the NT to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12.

The CLP confirmed it did not support raising the age, reasoning the issue was adequately covered under the current criminal code.

“A youth aged 10 to 14 is presumed to lack the capacity to be held criminally responsible, unless the contrary can be proven,” Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said.

“The CLP therefore believes there is adequate judicial discretion to make this determination based on the evidence provided to them and in the interests of justice.”

Territory Alliance justice spokesman Jeff Collins said the party recognised the issue was “significant” and had informed its youth justice policy, which focused on early intervention.

Raising the age was not part of its policy, and Mr Collins said the party would undertake “widespread consultation” on whether or not it would after its youth justice reforms had been put in place, granted it took government.

Research shows that children under 14 who enter the justice system are more likely to be suffering from underlying trauma, come from poorer families and have an undiagnosed disability. Almost 70 per cent of 10-year-olds in detention had also received child protection services, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data shows.

Nationally, young Indigenous people are imprisoned at 17 times the rate of their non-Indigenous peers.

In the NT, all but five young people in youth detention were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in 2018-19.