The CLP Government’s proposal to reduce the age of criminal responsibility will result in increased youth crime and elevated rates of Indigenous incarceration in the NT, the federal Productivity Commission has warned, while the Chief Minister has defended the move, calling critics “political commentators” bent on creating a “scare campaign”.
The previous Territory Labor government raised the age of criminal responsibility to 12 last August, in line with a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Youth Detention, but Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said her government will reduce it back to 10 in the first sittings of Parliament next month.
The people of the NT have spoken nothing else matters, especially the opinion of a couple of down south hand wringers.
Every jurisdiction has its own unique circumstances. There is no one solution to all situations. . Raising the age meant nothing could be done with wayward children in the 10-12 age group apart from giving them a lift back to the adults that failed their duty of care. Hopefully changes will be made to help avoid children taking the wrong path and their parents and carers better equipped to manage their children.
The Productivity Commission needs to comprehend the untouchable young kids are being used in break and enters!
We have a problem in Australia: most people who claim to be commissioners are useless.