Experts are worried children are becoming political footballs across Australia as MPs in three states recently made controversial decisions and policy suggestions about at-risk youth.

The Northern Territory government’s recent call to decrease the age of criminal responsibility was a prime example of placing politics above care for children, experts said.

The newly elected Country Liberal Party passed legislation that lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10, an election promise by Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro, just two years after the former Labor government increased the age to 12.

Maggie Munn, director of the First Nations Justice team at the Human Rights Law Centre and a Gunggari person from south-west Queensland, said it is immensely frustrating to see children used as “political footballs”.

No solution

“The ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric and the media frenzy that it’s induced has only led to harsher and more punitive policies and laws that have never once fixed the so-called youth crime crisis,” Munn said.

“Children and young people might find themselves in contact with the criminal legal system from inter-generational trauma, exposure to violence, unstable or insecure housing, disability, over-policing, poverty and the cost-of-living crisis.”

The age of criminal responsibility is when a child is considered by law to understand that their actions are wrong and can therefore face criminal conviction.

Lia Finocchiaro and her Country Liberal Party government rolled back a previous change to increase the age of criminal responsibility. Photo: AAP

Dr Marietta Martinovic, an associate professor in justice and criminology at RMIT University, said there is no doubt in her mind that the decision is about politics and not a long-term resolution.

“It is all about penal populism. You just have to look at what it’s paired up with,” she said.

“Tougher bail, extra police powers, decreasing criminal responsibility; It is completely going the wrong way.”

Marginalised communities

This followed youth crime becoming a key issue before the Queensland state election, despite the state’s youth crime rate dropping to near-record lows.

Queensland’s LNP opposition leader David Crisafulli launched his campaign on the weekend by promising to introduce “mandatory isolation periods” for children who assaulted youth detention staff.

During his address to supporters in Ipswich he focused on what he labelled a “youth crime crisis”.

Crisafulli, who is favourite to win the election against Labor incumbent Premier Steven Miles, also said privileges in detention such as TV in cells, would only be given as a reward for good behaviour.

“If the state is taking over responsibility for their care, we must make sure they use their time to become better people, not better criminals,” he said.

“[Youth crime] is a topic this government hasn’t wanted to speak about the entire campaign.”

The Victorian government, then led by Daniel Andrews, committed to increasing the age of criminal responsibility to 14 by 2027, but Jacinta Allan’s government instead decided against upholding it earlier this year after it was increased from 10 to 12.

Taxpayers pay price

Martinovic said that not only is the NT decision punishing children, but also taxpayers.

“The earlier a child comes into contact with the criminal justice system, the longer their involvement with it is,” she said.

“The criminal activity has already happened. It’s about what you do from that point on to make sure that person does not re-engage with crime any more.”

The NT’s decision has bucked a trend of states and territories increasing the age of criminal responsibility, following campaigns by advocates.

Munn said that lowering the age of criminal responsibility and placing kids, predominantly from Aboriginal and marginalised communities, “in watch houses and prison cells does absolutely nothing to address the root causes of problematic behaviour”.

“Communities across the Territory have long advocated for greater investment in their health and mental health, housing and care services but all I see from this new government is punishment, not support,” Munn said.

“Evidence has shown us that the younger a child is when they’re first in contact with the criminal legal system, the higher the likelihood of repeated contact is.”

Impact

Data from the Closing the Gap report shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are incarcerated at a higher rate in every jurisdiction across Australia.

Munn said that “prisons have never had the capacity to rehabilitate, to support, to heal children”.

“Medical and legal experts have all spoken at length regarding the detrimental impact prison and contact with the legal system has on the development of children,” Munn said.

“Governments across the country have been told this information time and time again, and yet they continue to ignore it in favour of carceral and punitive solutions.”