Background of Age of Criminal Responsibility in Australia
Government has broken the ACT that the age of criminal responsibility will be raised from 10 to 14 in the first jurisdiction. Children that are ten years of age could be convinced, prosecuted and sentenced to juvenile detention across Australia. The purpose of this proposed research is to evaluate the ACT of criminal responsibility age to be raised from 10 to 14 if ACT Labour re-elected after the reformation of Government. The analysis of the CT will also be presented and duly evaluated in this proposed research in a significant manner. Furthermore, the background of the ACT will be evaluated here to identify the requirement of raising the criminal responsibility age to 14 from the age of 10. Recommendations will also be presented regarding this law in this proposed research to reduce the issues related to the ACT.
The amendment of the ACT has evaluated that the children of 10 years of age could not be determined as criminals. They could be convinced, prosecuted and sentenced, which has 8increased the requirement of amendment of the law in Australia. It has been evaluated by a territory and federal of attorney-general that more works are required to evaluate the alternatives to deal with the young offenders that are 10 years of age (Benotman and Malik 2016). A report developed by the council of Attorney-General into the issues has evaluated that the capital would remain in line with national progress on reform. The Legislative Assembly has voted against the law and it has been identified that changes are required about the law, which evaluates the criminal offences of children 10 years of age. More than twenty community sector organisations have voted against the law and increased the requirement of movement of the law. The communities that have voted against the law includes the Greens and the social justice groups (Young, Greer and Church 2017). The votes against the law has increased the requirement of the Government of Australia to make changes in the position of the ACT. One child that was under the age of 14 years has been sentenced to detention in eleven years to the year 2019 after the law. On the other hand, four children below the age of twelve have been taken on remand at the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre. Richel Stephen, the minister of “ACT for Children”, along with Youth and Families and the minister for “Aboriginal Torres Strait Island Affairs” has mentioned that the children of ten years of age are young to be determined as a criminal and to be punished (Degenhardt et al. 2016). Stephen-Smith said that the evidences against a children of ten years of age should be taken into consideration before the declaration of a criminal responsibility. Furthermore, the Government of Australia has approved the required working regarding the changes in the ACT of criminal offences by children ten years of age or below the age of fourteen years. The rehabilitation of children of below fourteen years need to be maintained based on the consequences of their actions (Epstein, Blake and González 2017). It is also essential to provide support and therapeutic to the children under 14 years of age that are in rehabilitation. The children under 14 years that are in rehabilitation sho9uld be surrounded with and engaged in positive behaviour. It is vital for the children to support them towards not ending their childhood in the justice system of the country (Chiu 2016). Furthermore, an appropriate support and guidance to the children aged under 14 years should be provided with appropriate support and guidance to keep them in positive environment.
Issues with the Current Age of Criminal Responsibility
The minimum age of entering into the justice system in Australia has several laws, which evaluates that the children under the age of 14 years should not be inserted in the system. Several individuals and organisations have raised objections regarding the minimum age. The organisations include, Child Rights Taskforce, Jesuit Social Services, the Amnesty International, and the Human Rights Law Centre (Dalsgaard et al. 2015). Different professional bodies, such as Royal Australian College of Physicians and the Australian Medial Association, different state and territory law societies, legal bodies, criminal lawyer associations and the law Council of Australia have also raised objections about the minimum age of determining the criminal offenses by children aged under 14 years. These organisations have mentioned that the minimum age of children should be 14 years to enter them into the justice system (Latvala et al. 2015). The Royal Commission has increased the demand of protection and detention for the children that care under the age of 14 years. Increasing the protection of children has evaluated that the minimum age of children to be entered in to the justice system of Australia should be fourteen (Lahtinen et al. 2018). Furthermore, the children under the age of fourteen would be taken into detention and will be provided increased protection. The president of NSW Children’s Court judge Peter Johnstone has recommended to the NSW Legislative Assembly Inquiry that the minimum age of children for the use of control system should be fourteen in the country (Patton et al. 2016). It has recommended an enquiry about the requirement of increasing the minimum age by the government. On the other hand, it was agreed by the Council of Attorney’s General that the minimum age should be raised to develop a few changes to the most significant abuses of children. In the year 2019, the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill was introduced in the Federal Parliament of the country to change the minimum age of child crime (Compton et al. 2016). A framework has been developed by the United Nations to respond to the children in conflict with the law, which has also been included through the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In addition, increasing the age of children to include them in the justice system is vital, as it is able to increase the neurobiological effect on children under the age of 14 years. Previously, it was recommended by the United Nations that the age should be 12. However, it has been increased in the year 2018 to 14 years of age for children in Australia (Decker and Marteache 2017). The global study of UN on Children Deprived of Their Liberty has duly recommended that the justice system of child should increase the age to 14 years.
It has been identified that different organisations and the government of Australia is focusing on more work on the age of children for the criminal responsibilities. It has been identified different non-governmental firms are also focusing on completing their works on the age between 14 to 16 years. Thus, it is recommended to the government and non-government organisational that they should take appropriate steps to increase the minimum age of children for criminal responsibilities to 14 years. The age should be increases from ten to keep children in a positive situation. The inclusion of ten years of age of children in the criminal responsibilities could affect the mental health. Moreover, positive environment for the children under the age of 14 years is one of the essential aspects to improve their activities. They could be taken into detention to provide improved and positive surroundings. Criminal responsibilities should be charged to the children that are above the age of 14 years.
Evaluation of Proposed Changes to Age of Criminal Responsibility in ACT
It is also recommended to the organisations and the government of Australia that the children that are young should be provided appropriate guidance to make their activities proper. The inclusion of children less than 14 could affect them by including in the justice system. Thus, it is essential to increase the age of them by 14 to help younger children to stay in a positive environment. The mental state and mental health of these children could be changed with appropriate guidance and surroundings. Thus, the age should be increased to 14 for the justice system of Australia. It has also been recommended by several organisations that the age should be increased. In most of the countries in the international domain, the minimum age of children to be included into the justice system is between the age groups of 14 to 16.
It was duly concluded from the proposed research that the age of children to be included in the criminal responsibilities should be increased. This particular paper evaluates that several organisations and governmental bodies are recommending to increase the age from 10 to 14 for the inclusion into the justice system. It is also essential for the children of 10 to 14 years of age to provide appropriate positive environment for the betterment of their mental health. It was also concluded that in several countries, the minimum age of justice system for the children is 14 to 16, which should be followed by the government of Australia.
References
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