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In WA, we send children as young as 10 to prison.
We need to Raise The Age of Criminal Responsibility to at least 14.
Everybody wants their children to thrive. No child should be sent far away from their family, community, and culture. Instead, we should be supporting them.
As a community, we have a responsibility to care for the most vulnerable. Especially children.
When a young person ends up in prison it is society that is failing- to teach them, to protect them, to provide for their basic needs.
By raising the age to 14, we can ensure that young children get the support they need and are empowered to create their own future.
Western Australia has an opportunity to lead the nation in raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years old.
Australia’s minimum age of criminal responsibility is out of step with the international community, recently receiving international condemnation from the United Nations.
It also goes against the overwhelming evidence and science championed by medical and health experts around the world.
Let’s take action together and raise the age in Western Australia.
Do you want to learn more? Click here for our FAQ sheet.
Why should we raise the age to 14?
Shockingly, only 7% of Australians correctly identified 10 years old as the minimum age of criminal responsibility in a public opinion poll by the Australia Institute.
The vast majority (73%) thought the age was greater than 10 years old, and more than half (51%) thought it was already greater than 14 years old.
Read our Submission to the Council of Attorney Generals on Raising the Age.
Health Science tells us that…
A majority of Australians (72%) believe Australian politicians should be guided by the medical experts when deciding on how to respond to children’s behaviour.
The medical and scientific evidence to raise the age of criminal responsibility is overwhelming.
Neuroscience shows that many key stages of brain development are not adequately formed in children. This means that children do not fully understand the consequences of their actions and choices. They are incapable of comprehending what their actions in the moment might lead to or mean down the track.
Children do not fully mature until in their early 20’s, which has significant repercussions on their ability to critically think, impulse control, organisational and planning. It also leaves them susceptible to peer pressure and risk-taking behaviours. See the Royal Australian College of Paediatricians paper here.
Kids in Prison are society’s most vulnerable
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children:
In WA, 78% of the young people in juvenile detention are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, this is the most disproportionate rate of incarceration in the nation.
Racial discrimination plays a role in this, as Aboriginal young people are less likely to be cautioned by police. (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2010)
From 2014- 2018 54% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children in juvenile justice systems around the country, had also been in child protection services during the same period. (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2019)Children with Disabilities:
In 2018, Telethon Kids Institute found that roughly nine out of ten (89%) of children incarcerated had at least one form of severe neurodevelopmental impairment and 36% were diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). This high incidence of disability shows that in reality, children being imprisoned actually need early therapeutic intervention, intensive support, and rehabilitation, rather than being sent far away from their homes.Children in Child Protection Services:
More than half of young people in detention (55%) and half of those in community-based supervision (50%) are also in the care or services of Child Protection. This equates to young people in detention being 10 times as likely and young people in community-based supervision being 9 times as likely as the general population to have received youth justice services. Of those who had received both child protection services and youth justice supervision, most had child protection first.
Imprisonment is Ineffective at Reducing Crime in the Long Term, and Harms Children
55.8% of young people incarcerated in WA return to sentenced supervision within 12 months, meaning most young people sent to juvenile detention are not effectively supported to rehabilitate, and end up back in the prison system over and over again (Report on Government Services, 2021).
The impact of imprisonment on children has been demonstrated to cause profound psychological harm and distress to children, many of whom are already victims of trauma and violence.
The Economic Cost just doesn’t add up
A majority (65%) of Australians believe that the public money spent on incarcerating children would be better spent on social services (“Justice Reinvestment”).
The State Government spent $95.7 million dollars on the youth justice system in 2019-20 (WA Budget Paper, 2020).
In Western Australia, it costs roughly $300,000 to incarcerate one child for one year (Report on Government Services, 2021).
In comparison, it costs just $114.01 per day to place one child under community-based supervision.
We have an obligation to uphold the Basic Human Rights of Children
Australia is out of step with the international community and has one of the lowest minimum ages of criminal responsibility in the world, receiving international condemnation.
Australia’s minimum age of criminal responsibility (10 years old) goes against the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, specifically Article 9 and 37 of the Convention.
Australia has been internationally condemned several times now for its low minimum age of criminal responsibility, which is out of step with the international community, as well as the disproportionate over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
Western Australia’s juvenile detention centre, Banksia Hill Detention Centre, has been subjected to a human rights investigation by Amnesty International, which has identified the use of inhumane strip searching, solitary confinement, self-harm incidents, handcuffing, and forced restraint among others.
This was followed by an independent enquiry by the Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services recommending a range of reforms in youth justice.
Australia has also been internationally condemned by the United Nations Council on Eliminating Racial Discrimination (UN CERD) in 2017, highlighting that in some areas, Australia has regressed in eliminating racial discrimination. Their report highlights Australia’s poor track record on improving the outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly children taken from families into out-of-home care and the vast over-representation in the justice sector.
It’s not ‘prison or nothing’. There are alternative approaches that work to rehabilitate young people.
WA Police already divert children under the age of 10 into programs an interventions with the Department of Communities.
Programs like Olabud Doogethu and the Youth Partnership project have been demonstrated to reduce crime, and support young people to live better lives without the need for incarceration of children.
