Media release – various groups, 14 July 2023

Joint statement in support of CCYP advice to raise the age of criminal responsibility

TasCOSS, along with key organisations involved in the delivery of services to children and young people, strongly support the Memorandum of Advice issued by the Commissioner for Children and Young People (CCYP) Tasmania today which calls on the Tasmanian Government to raise the age of criminal responsibility in Tasmania to at least 14, among other welcome recommendations.

The following joint statement may be attributed to a coalition of community organisations, namely the Youth Network of Tasmania, Relationships Australia Tasmania, CREATE Foundation and TasCOSS:

We know the current youth justice system is not providing enough support for young Tasmanians and their families, particularly those who are already facing social and economic difficulties.

Young people in out-of-home care, Aboriginal children and those with lived experience of poverty, abuse or trauma are all overrepresented in our youth justice system. Those within the youth justice system are also struggling to receive the support and care they need, with involvement in the criminal justice system as a young person linked to criminalisation and incarceration in later life.

We advocate for reform to better support Tasmanian children and their families, including the need for strengthened community-based services to respond to the needs of those young people who are involved in, or at risk of, becoming involved in, the youth justice system. We also advocate on behalf of the community services industry who work with these children and their families.

We strongly support the recommendations of the CCYP, which include the following:

  • The Tasmanian Government should commit to raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14, with no exceptions, within the next two years;
  • The Tasmanian Government should commit to a comprehensive legislative review to create effective pathways to respond to the needs of young people, based on independent advice (including the recommendations of the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute);
  • Alongside legislative reform, the Tasmanian Government should also commit to comprehensive, child-centered service system reform to respond to the needs of children and families; and
  • All legislative and policy reforms should be child-centered, recognise the right of Aboriginal communities and families to determine appropriate responses for their children, and empower families and communities to take an active role in promoting and maintaining the wellbeing of their children.

We urge the Tasmanian Government to immediately commit to the recommendations of the CCYP and implement changes to better support our community.

Advice – Commissioner for Children and Young People, 14 July 2023

The Age of Criminal Responsibility in Tasmania

3. Summary of Recommendations

In this Advice, I recommend the Tasmanian Government:

1. Commits, without delay, to raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years, with no exceptions.

2. Implements the raised age of criminal responsibility within two years as a part of the Tasmanian Government’s Final Youth Justice Blueprint.

3. Ensures that any legislative, policy, procedural and service system reforms associated with a raised age of criminal responsibility are designed and implemented according to three key principles:

I. being child-centered;

II. the right of Aboriginal people to determine and lead the appropriate response for their children;

III. the ecological model of child development which recognises the influence of families, communities and society on the wellbeing of children.

4. Amends existing legislation to create new, non-criminalising pathways to respond to children’s harmful behavior based on the comprehensive independent public advice and recommendations of the Tasmania Law Reform Institute (TLRI) in its 2022 report on Raising the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility – Law Reform Considerations. This includes: I. amending s18 of the Criminal Code Act 1924 to give effect to the raised age of criminal responsibility;

II. making appropriate amendments to the Youth Justice Act 1997, including to ensure that the effect of the legislative reform does not derogate any existing rights of children aged below the age of criminal responsibility;

III. ensuring police have precise and well-defined ad hoc powers as first responders to incidents involving children aged below the raised age of criminal responsibility, including to take a child to a safe place and make appropriate referrals;

IV. amending the definition of ‘at risk’ under the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1997;

V. seeks further advice from the TLRI on any subsequential amendments necessary to ensure the rights and wellbeing of children aged below the raised age are upheld (eg the impacts for children aged below the raised age who are in detention or under community based supervision at the time the amendments take effect).

5. Commits to enhance, and appropriately resource, the service system to support the needs of children engaging in harmful behaviour. This includes commissioning a comprehensive independent review of the current service system to enable a contemporary service system map and gap analysis upon which service system enhancements can be based.

6. Through a child-centered service system redesign, builds capacity across the service system to enable appropriate non-criminalising responses for children exhibiting harmful behaviours.

This would include:

I. equipping police, and other first responders, with the training, skills and expertise necessary to respond effectively to the needs of the child;

II. adopting an embedded youth worker crisis response and outreach model for de-escalation, immediate assessment of safety and needs, and referral to appropriate services;

III. establishing ‘safe places’ for children and young people to ensure their immediate safety if unable to return to family or carers;

IV. provision of independent individual advocacy, including specialist legal advocacy for children for whom statutory interventions are proposed.

7. Designs and implements a new, individualised, needs assessment and response co-ordination service, inclusive of intensive case management where necessary, for children aged below the increased age of criminal responsibility. This should be a multi-disciplinary service with centralised co-ordination and leadership by a single agency.

8. Ensures whole-of-government accountability through a new, multi-agency governance committee including, at a minimum,the Secretaries of the Department for Education, Children and Young People, Department of Health, Department of Premier and Cabinet, and the Commissioner of Police. The terms of reference of the Committee should include providing oversight and provision of care and supports for children aged below the new age of criminal responsibility who are exhibiting extremely concerning harmful behaviour.

Read the full advice here: https://childcomm.tas.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/2023-07-14-FINAL-for-public-release-CCYP-Memorandum-of-Advice-re-Age-of-Criminal-Responsibility-.pdf.

Rosalie Woodruff MP, Acting Greens Leader, 14 July 2023

Archer Must Commit to Raising the Age

The Greens are strong supporters of raising the age of criminal responsibility, and we commend the Commissioner for Children and Young People’s advice to government on this crucial matter. It’s now time for the Attorney-General to act.

Raising the age of criminal responsibility to a minimum of 14 years, without exceptions, is an essential step in reforming youth justice. This is a reform that experts, human rights groups, NGOs, social sector organisations, legal bodies, the Aboriginal community, and the Greens have been demanding for years.

Attorney-General Elise Archer previously said she wanted to wait for a nationally consistent approach to raising the age, but that horse has long since bolted. Across the country laws have changed in multiple states and territories, and Tasmania can and should prioritise following the Commissioner’s advice and changing the law.

Tasmania has two choices – to do the right thing for Tasmanian children, and commit to raising the age to 14 years. Or to continue to criminalise children and lock them up, despite the clear evidence of the lifelong harms and increase in re-offending this causes.

We recognise the Attorney-General indicated in December 2022 she had instructed her department to consider reforms to raise the age as a priority, but since then we have heard nothing. This is a real concern.

Given Tasmania’s terrible track record on youth justice, including further delays to close Ashley Youth Detention Centre, it’s even more important that Elise Archer stops commits to this reform, and to giving children who end up in strife a better crack at life.