Youth crime changes urged

Date: February 28 2013

Jane Lee

THE age of criminal responsibility should be raised from 10 to 12 years to better fight youth crime, a study recommends.

Jesuit Social Services' study on alternatives to remand found that children who were 14 or younger when they first entered the criminal justice system were more likely to come from disadvantaged communities than older children.

The group's chief executive, Julie Edwards, said that diverting children away from the system, for example through mediation and group conferencing, had proved to be more effective at preventing them from re-offending than putting them in custody.

''Detention is no place for primary school children and we must raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 in order to keep them out,'' she said.

Ms Edwards said that early intervention services should be better funded to support children and their families early in life to prevent crime.

The study, launched by Children's Court president Judge Paul Grant, analysed data from the Department of Human Services and Victoria Police and included interviews with children. It said that all child protection services knew of all the children aged between 10 to 12 who were in remand in 2010.

A disproportionate number of children in detention were found to be Aboriginal, with indigenous children more likely to have come into contact with police at younger ages than non-indigenous children. The number of children in remand jumped 67 per cent from 2007 to 2010, the study said.

It called for support services to be expanded outside of business hours, which is when 80 per cent of youth arrests occur.

A spokesman for state Attorney-General Robert Clark said the government had no current plans to introduce these changes.

A spokesman for the Department of Human Services said the department ''welcomes the contribution of the Jesuits to the development of policy in this important area''.

Judge Grant said the report's arguments for reform were compelling. He said more empathy and support was needed for young people in the criminal justice system because they came from disadvantaged backgrounds of neglect and abuse that many people could not understand.

''You can't help but feel sorry for some young people who come into the court who haven't had the sort of opportunities that most of us have had in our lives,'' he said.

With AAP

An earlier version of this story attributed a quote from the Department of Human Services to a spokesman for Community Services Minister Mary Wooldridge. This was incorrect. The mistake was made by the reporter.