Page 1073 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 9 May 2023
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It is demonstrated by medical evidence and widely accepted that children under the age of 14 years are unlikely to understand the gravity of a criminal offence or be able to meaningfully engage in the criminal justice process. We know that children and young people aged between 10 and 13 years who engage in harmful, risky or violent behaviour often do so because of trauma, abuse, neglect, homelessness or unmet disability or mental health needs. The amendments in this bill will help address these risk factors and support young people rather than criminalise them.
The bill will also lead to better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other minority cohorts by ensuring children and young people are supported to remain connected to community, country and cultural heritage. These are critical connections that would otherwise be disrupted by the criminal justice system and incarceration.
The bill will support the aim of reducing the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in detention by at least 30 per cent by 2031. This goal is outlined in the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Agreement 2019-2028 and the youth justice targets of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The bill also supports our work under the Blueprint for Youth Justice in the ACT 2012-22, which commits to addressing the underlying causes of offending by children and young people through early support and therapeutic responses, and the ACT government’s commitments to the reducing recidivism by 2025 plan.
We would not have been able to get to this position today, to introduce a bill to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility, without the tireless work and advocacy of our community stakeholders. I am thankful for the years of engagement by all stakeholders who carefully considered these complex reforms at key stages and provided invaluable comments. The ACT government has developed several reports and papers throughout this process to help all contributors navigate and address the complexities of raising the minimum age.
In particular, the ACT government discussion paper released in June 2021 outlined raising the minimum age to 14 years as a way to respond to young offenders with an evidence based rather than a punitive approach. The paper prompted community discussion around several points, recognising the need for a comprehensive approach so that no child at risk is left unsupported under the new legislation.
The listening report, which followed the community consultation process, also provided valuable insights into community and stakeholder perspectives. It was fantastic to see that, out of the 52 submissions we received, 45 indicated strong support for raising the age to 14 years. The bill includes a number of amendments across criminal justice and child and youth protection legislation, including raising the minimum age in a staged approach to 12 years immediately upon passage of the legislation and then to 14 years by July 2025.
Exceptionally serious and intentionally violent offences will retain the minimum age increase to 12 years. These offences are inserted at schedule 1 of the Criminal Code and include murder, intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm, sexual assault in the first degree, and act of indecency in the first degree. Section 25 of the Criminal Code will
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