Jail no place for children
The AMA has again called for a nationally consistent minimum age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 14 years of age.
In a submission to an Australian Human Rights Commission investigation into possible reforms to youth justice, the Australian Medical Association has called on Australia’s Attorney-General to show leadership by encouraging his state and territory counterparts to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14.
AMA President Professor Steve Robson said child incarceration in Australia is a national problem that requires a nationally consistent response.
“This is an opportunity for the Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, to show leadership by encouraging state and territory attorneys-general to raise the age to 14,” Professor Robson said.
“The medical evidence is clear, jailing harms children mentally and impairs their physical development and the younger the child is at first contact with the legal system, the higher the rate of recidivism.
“We cannot accept a stepped approach of raising the age to 12 — let’s remember that children this age are still in primary school — 14 is the absolute minimum age that we should set criminal responsibility.
“Countries comparable to Australia don’t lock their children up. We really should be ashamed to know that right now there will be around 4,500 children as young as 10 under youth justice supervision in Australia.
The AMA’s submission also highlights the disproportionate number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in detention, making up almost half of all the 10–17 years olds in detention (despite making up only 6 per cent of the population in this age group).
“There are far better alternatives than prison walls for young Australians. It is time for the states and territories to stop locking these children up, because ‘out of sight out of mind’ is not how we should be approaching youth justice policies.”
