ACT Children and Young People (Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility) Amendment Act 2023
What was at stake
Raising minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14
What the court decided
First Australian jurisdiction to raise the age from 10 to 14. Phased implementation with therapeutic diversionary framework for 10-13 year olds.
How the court got there
The ACT Legislative Assembly enacted this amendment based on evidence that children aged 10–13 lack sufficient neurological and cognitive development to bear criminal responsibility, and that contact with the criminal justice system at such young ages causes long-term harm rather than rehabilitation; the legislature accepted expert and child-rights advocacy arguments that diversion and therapeutic responses better serve community safety and child wellbeing than criminalisation.
Statutes and cases cited
- § Children and Young People (Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility) Amendment Act 2023 (ACT)
- § Children and Young People Act 2008 (ACT)
- § UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Categories
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