Key Points
- New laws will ensure that children aged 11 and under will not be charged by police or imprisoned.
- Despite the increase, the Territory has fallen below international standards.
- NT government hopes the laws break the cycle of reoffending, while Liberals say they're an 'insult' to police.
The Northern Territory government has become the first jurisdiction in Australia to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 years to 12.
However the increase falls short of the United Nations' recommended age of 14 years.
Youth justice advocates say they will work towards having the threshold raised further.
Breaking re-offending cycles
The new laws passed by parliament overnight mean children aged 11 or younger who commit offences will no longer be charged by police or imprisoned.
They will instead be referred to family support and intervention programs and placed in temporary accommodation if their homes are deemed unsafe.
NT Attorney-General Chansey Paech said the territory government is taking "a smarter approach to youth justice" and would break the cycle of re-offending.
"Our focus is on delivering proven solutions that will benefit all of our children, their families and the Territory as a whole," he said on Wednesday.
The NT government also stressed that police would continue to investigate offences after the amendments came into effect in late 2023.
Victims of crime would continue to receive assistance through financial compensation and support, it said.
A step in the right direction
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) welcomed the "momentous" changes, saying the NT's tough-on-crime approach over the past two decades had failed vulnerable children.
The agency said locking up children increased the risk of re-offending, with more severe behaviour likely when they did.
The majority of children aged 10 and 11 who had been incarcerated on remand did not receive a custodial sentence for their offences, but , the agency said.
NAAJA and several other groups said the government should invest in more community leadership to address issues of youth offending.
Pressure to meet the standard
There are now calls for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 14, in line with United Nations, international and medical expert standards.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child formally noted in 2019 its serious concern about the "very low age of criminal responsibility" in Australia.
Mr Paech said the changes were informed by recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT.
Liberals label change 'insulting'
Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said the Labor Fyles government had wiped thousands of past crimes from the record and green-lit crime, no matter how serious, for children under 12.
"It's basically a free-for-all for young criminals. Labor has sent a dangerous message to them, telling them to go their hardest because there won't be any consequences," she said.
"It's also insulting to police to say they can still investigate crimes but cannot arrest or charge someone for those crimes."
The age of criminal responsibility is the age when a child is considered by law to have understood that their actions were wrong and can face criminal charges.
The legislation will be reviewed by government in two years.
