A Brighter Tomorrow: Raise the Age of Criminal Responsibility

Abstract

A report released by Amnesty International in May 2015 highlights the alarming overrepresentation of Indigenous young people in detention in Australia. It calls on the Australian Commonwealth Government to make a number of legislative changes to address this issue, which the report argues are necessary to ensure Australia’s compliance with its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The foremost area in need of reform identified in the report is the low age of criminal responsibility in Australia. This note examines Amnesty International’s arguments for an increase in the minimum age of criminal responsibility and agrees that the age should be raised to at least twelve.

Keywords: age of criminal responsibility, doli incapax, youth justice, Indigenous young people, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

JEL Classification: K10, K14, K30