We stand with our with our friends at Smart Justice for Young People coalition in the call to the Victorian Government to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years old.
This change would protect young people under 14 years from being imprisoned while on remand or through sentencing. By keeping young people out of prison they won’t be exposed to its psychologically damaging impact.
The recent call for submissions to the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System provided coalition partners with an opportunity to ask the Royal Commission, in its final report, to consider recommending to the Victorian Government that the law be amended to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years.
While the Commission is still in the process of publishing these submissions on its website, we’ve provided you with the links to four relevant submissions here:
The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare
Comparative Youth Penality Project at UNSW
Did you or your organisation also provide a submission on this issue?
Leave us a comment below and include the link to the submission and we can share it here.
