The Northern Territory Government has lowered the age of criminal responsibility to 10.
This is the age at which a child can be charged with, or prosecuted for, an alleged crime.
In 2022, the previous Labor Government raised the age of criminal responsibility in the NT to 12, becoming theto do so.
Now, the Territory’s newly-elected Country Liberal Party (CLP) has reversed that decision.
Curfews
The latest youth detention data published by the NT Government shows there were 25 young people in detention in the last week of July. All were First Nations.
In March, Former Chief Minister Eva Lawler established a curfew for young people in Alice Springs. It was aimed at addressing concerns of growing youth violence in the region.
The curfew banned under-18-year-olds in Alice Springs from leaving their homes between 6pm and 6am.
It was first announced as a two-week measure but was extended for a third week.
Lawler said the youth curfew successfully acted as a “circuit-breaker” to improve community safety.
A three-day curfew was then announced in July, for all Alice Springs residents.
It came after a spike in crime and assaults against local police.
NT Government
The CLP defeated the Labor Party at the Northern Territory’s election in August.
One of its election promises was to return the age of criminal responsibility to 10, in response to increasing rates of crime in the Territory.
In athis week, NT Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley said: “We make no apologies for delivering the laws Territorians voted for in the August election.”
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Policies
Other CLP election promises included creating boot camps for First Nations young people, and a bail reform called Declan’s Law.
The law, which passed this week, denies bail to anyone older than the age of 10 accused of a violent offence, unless the defence proves otherwise. It’s named after a 20-year-old man who was stabbed to death in Darwin last year.
Declan’s Law requires a repeat offender to wear an electronic monitoring device (e.g. an ankle bracelet) if they are on bail.
Opposition
Shadow Attorney-General Chanston Paech said the new laws failed to address the “root causes” of crime.
“Simply locking up more people is not the answer… we need to invest in policies, programs and initiatives to lift our people out of poverty and disadvantage; to allow them to live their lives with dignity and purpose.”
Several independent MPs joined a protest against the new laws outside Parliament.
The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) said legal experts and advocates have found that lowering the age of criminal responsibility has a disproportionate impact on First Nations children.
SNAICC stated that it perpetuates “a cycle of punishment rather than support.”
In an article for Crikey, the CEO of imprisoned women’s advocacy group Sisters Inside Debbie Kilroy said the laws were “recycled tactics; designed to win votes but destined to fail our children”.
Age of criminal responsibility
The age of criminal responsibility across most of Australia is 10.
In ACT the age of criminal responsibility is 12, and will increase to 14 next year.
Victoria has introduced a bill to raise the age of criminal responsibility in the state to 12.
In 2023, former Premier Dan Andrews announced plans to raise the age to 14 by 2027. However, current Premier Jacinta Allan recently walked back that commitment and capped it at 12.
