Age of criminal responsibility lowered to 10 in Northern Territory

Key Points

The Northern Territory has passed laws lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10.
The laws were passed with the government’s 17 to seven majority.
The controversial laws have come under scrutiny from experts across the nation and internationally in recent weeks.

Children as young as 10 could face jail with the Northern Territory parliament passing controversial laws to lower the age of criminal responsibility.

After the Territory recently became the first jurisdiction in Australia to raise the age to 12, the incoming government has moved quickly to return it to 10.

The parliament passed three changes to youth justice laws on Thursday, including lowering the age of criminal responsibility and criminal provisions for ram raiding and boast-and-post laws.

Under the existing criminal code, a person can be charged for ram raiding a property in the Northern Territory, however, the new legislation could have children as young as 10 sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said Labor had raised the age of criminal responsibility without having any programs in place to deal with the fact that 10 and 11-year-olds would no longer be held accountable for their actions.

“We know reverting to a system where it is the judge’s discretion around what to do with a 10 and 11-year-old creates much better opportunities for authorities to intervene early in their lives,” she said.

The controversial laws have come under scrutiny from experts across the nation and internationally in recent weeks, but were passed with the government’s 17 to seven majority.

All but the member for Fannie Bay, Laurie Zio, and the member for Fong Lim, Tanzil Rahman, spoke to amendments with varying views across the parliament.

Country Liberal Party members spoke about property crimes committed by young people and the damage to businesses, calling for the specific need to criminalise ram raiding.

Education Minister Jo Hersey said the behaviour of young people driving cars into businesses was not “fair” to anyone in the community.

“Businesses suffered thousands of dollars in damage from these ram raids with the stolen vehicles,” she said.

Deputy opposition leader Dheran Young shared the stories of two young people in detention. He read a letter written by an 11-year-old who shared his experiences with his grandmother.

“I’m in a cell. It has a metal toilet. I have a tap that always runs hot,” the child wrote according to Mr Young.

“I don’t have anyone to talk to in my cell. I can’t shower. I miss my mum and dad and Nana and brothers, I love them a lot.”

His sentiments were echoed by former attorney-general Chansey Peach, who led the Labor government’s charge to raise the age in 2022.

“We’re talking about people who are deemed too vulnerable to be of an age to be on social media, they have no place in the criminal justice system,” he said.

“I feel sad for Territory children, sad because we have a government who has taken a policy position that says … in order to help you, we need to criminalise you first.”

“Putting children into cells … that is child abuse.”

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