Media release – Roger Jaensch, Minister for Education, Children and Youth, 8 June 2022

Raising the minimum age of detention

The Tasmanian Liberal Government will raise the minimum age of detention from 10 to 14 as part of our comprehensive reform of the Youth Justice System in Tasmania.

This will be one key element in our plan to build a nation-leading, best practice approach to young people in conflict with the law.

We know that detention does not support rehabilitation or reduce the likelihood of re-offending for younger children. Early exposure to a detention environment can also further traumatise young people, expose them to problem behaviours of older detainees and increase criminal networks.

There will always be a need for secure detention as a last resort for a very small minority of young people who commit the most serious offences, and to ensure community safety.

This change will help ensure that the detention of young people in Tasmania is truly a last resort.

Through our comprehensive reforms, we will enhance responses across the entire Youth Justice service system. This will include:

  • a greater focus on prevention and early intervention;
  • additional options to divert young people away from the formal court system;
  • a broader range of community-based sentencing options available to courts; and
  • trauma informed, therapeutic and restorative interventions for high-risk young offenders, including new custodial facilities.

Only as we implement these new initiatives will we be in a position to remove detention as an option for the younger, more vulnerable cohort. This will apply to both sentenced and unsentenced detention (i.e. remand).

Importantly, in raising the minimum age of detention, we will ensure that powers of police relating to arrest, searching, and holding young people ages 10 and over for the purposes of investigating crime will remain. Exceptions for serious crimes, and in the interest of community safety, will be identified during development.

Raising the minimum age of detention will require legislative amendment to the Youth Justice Act 1997. This will occur together with a suite of amendments identified as part of our whole system reform. Under our Youth Justice Reform Transition Plan this is anticipated to occur near the end of 2024.

It is important to note that raising the minimum age of detention is separate and distinct issue to the age of criminal responsibility, which will continue to be considered through the national Meeting of Attorneys-General. As our Attorney General Elise Archer has said, it is our preference for a nationally consistent position on the minimum age of criminal responsibility.

The Tasmanian Government is fulfilling our commitment to young people at-risk or in conflict with the law, giving them a chance at a better future.

This is a Government with integrity and heart, one that is courageous, accountable and delivers on its commitments.

Cassy O’Connor MP, Greens Leader, 8 June 2022

Rockliff Government Falls Short on Age of Criminal Responsibility Reform

Raising the age of criminal responsibility is designed to prevent children, who have not developed adult decision-making capabilities, from entering the justice system. The statement made in Estimates this morning by Children’s Minister Roger Jaensch MP, that the age of detention will be raised to 14 falls short of what’s needed in youth justice.

It’s long been known children under the age of 14 lack the necessary components of criminal responsibility.

The Liberals in government are dragging their heels on raising the age of criminal responsibility. The ACT isn’t waiting for a nationally agreed approach, why should Tasmania.

Contemporary evidence shows children under the age of 14 have immature brain development in terms of decision-making and impulse control. This is recognised by the United Nations Child Rights Committee and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Children under the age of 14 who commit crimes are likely doing so because of unaddressed trauma. Putting a traumatised child through the various stages of the criminal justice system exacerbates trauma and increases the chance of reoffending.

It is unknown at this point how many Tasmanian children have been adversely affected by the inaction of previous governments and under this micro-change, which is still some way off, the damage will continue.

Children under 14 who break laws need social welfare interventions that address the cause of the behaviour, instead of child penal colony thinking.

We hope the Rockliff Government rethinks this decision and raises the age of criminal responsibility to 14, in line with this raise to the age of detention.

It seems that any progress regarding the welfare of our young people comes too slow and never goes far enough.

Media release – Ella Haddad MP, Shadow Attorney General; Sarah Lovell MLC, Shadow Minister for Child Safety, 8 June 2022

Minimum detention age change a good start but must go further

The decision to raise the minimum age of detention in Tasmania from 10 to 14 is a welcome start but must be expanded to raise the age of criminal responsibility to really make a difference.

The government’s decision and promise of a shift to a more therapeutic approach is a positive commitment to an increased focus on prevention and early intervention.

But it ignores the bigger issue, which is the failure of the Attorney General to act on raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14.

Reducing the minimum age of detention will not alter the fact that children as young as 10 can be arrested, held and detained, despite clear evidence that this is the wrong approach.

Experts have long called for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 14, with evidence showing young people need therapeutic support and that the younger they are when they have their first brush with the law, the more likely they are to continue offending.

The Attorney General Elise Archer told Estimates Hearings on Monday that she was waiting for a national decision, with the Meeting of Attorneys General (MAG) considering raising the age of criminal responsibility to 12.

However this would be a massive misstep that would not address the core issue. The government does not have to wait for a national decision. There is nothing stopping Tasmania from acting right now to raise the age of criminal responsibility.

There is no doubt people should be held responsible for criminal offending but children aged younger than 14 should not be in the criminal justice system.