Course material

1. Answer: Introduction Government has broken the ACT that the age
Answer:
Introduction
Government has broken the ACT that the age of criminal responsibility will be raised from
10 to 14 in the first jurisdiction. Children that are ten years of age could be convinced,
prosecuted and sentenced to juvenile detention across Australia. The purpose of this
proposed research is to evaluate the ACT of criminal responsibility age to be raised from 10
to 14 if ACT Labour re-elected after the reformation of Government. The analysis of the CT
will also be presented and duly evaluated in this proposed research in a significant manner.
Furthermore, the background of the ACT will be evaluated here to identify the requirement
of raising the criminal responsibility age to 14 from the age of 10. Recommendations will
also be presented regarding this law in this proposed research to reduce the issues related
to the ACT.
Background
The amendment of the ACT has evaluated that the children of 10 years of age could not be
determined as criminals. They could be convinced, prosecuted and sentenced, which has
8increased the requirement of amendment of the law in Australia. It has been evaluated by
a territory and federal of attorney-general that more works are required to evaluate the
alternatives to deal with the young offenders that are 10 years of age (Benotman and Malik
2016). A report developed by the council of Attorney-General into the issues has evaluated
that the capital would remain in line with national progress on reform. The Legislative
Assembly has voted against the law and it has been identified that changes are required
about the law, which evaluates the criminal offences of children 10 years of age. More than
twenty community sector organisations have voted against the law and increased the
requirement of movement of the law. The communities that have voted against the law
includes the Greens and the social justice groups (Young, Greer and Church 2017). The
votes against the law has increased the requirement of the Government of Australia to make
changes in the position of the ACT. One child that was under the age of 14 years has been
sentenced to detention in eleven years to the year 2019 after the law. On the other hand,
four children below the age of twelve have been taken on remand at the Bimberi Youth
Justice Centre. Richel Stephen, the minister of “ACT for Children”, along with Youth and

2. Families and the minister for “Aboriginal Torres Strait Island Affairs” has mentioned that
the children of ten years of age are young to be determined as a criminal and to be punished
(Degenhardt et al. 2016). Stephen-Smith said that the evidences against a children of ten
years of age should be taken into consideration before the declaration of a criminal
responsibility. Furthermore, the Government of Australia has approved the required
working regarding the changes in the ACT of criminal offences by children ten years of age
or below the age of fourteen years. The rehabilitation of children of below fourteen years
need to be maintained based on the consequences of their actions (Epstein, Blake and
González 2017). It is also essential to provide support and therapeutic to the children under
14 years of age that are in rehabilitation. The children under 14 years that are in
rehabilitation sho9uld be surrounded with and engaged in positive behaviour. It is vital for
the children to support them towards not ending their childhood in the justice system of the
country (Chiu 2016). Furthermore, an appropriate support and guidance to the children
aged under 14 years should be provided with appropriate support and guidance to keep
them in positive environment.
Research And Analysis Of The Proposal
The minimum age of entering into the justice system in Australia has several laws, which
evaluates that the children under the age of 14 years should not be inserted in the system.
Several individuals and organisations have raised objections regarding the minimum age.
The organisations include, Child Rights Taskforce, Jesuit Social Services, the Amnesty
International, and the Human Rights Law Centre (Dalsgaard et al. 2015). Different
professional bodies, such as Royal Australian College of Physicians and the Australian
Medial Association, different state and territory law societies, legal bodies, criminal lawyer
associations and the law Council of Australia have also raised objections about the
minimum age of determining the criminal offenses by children aged under 14 years. These
organisations have mentioned that the minimum age of children should be 14 years to enter
them into the justice system (Latvala et al. 2015). The Royal Commission has increased the
demand of protection and detention for the children that care under the age of 14 years.
Increasing the protection of children has evaluated that the minimum age of children to be
entered in to the justice system of Australia should be fourteen (Lahtinen et al. 2018).
Furthermore, the children under the age of fourteen would be taken into detention and will
be provided increased protection. The president of NSW Children’s Court judge Peter
Johnstone has recommended to the NSW Legislative Assembly Inquiry that the minimum
age of children for the use of control system should be fourteen in the country (Patton et al.
2016). It has recommended an enquiry about the requirement of increasing the minimum
age by the government. On the other hand, it was agreed by the Council of Attorney’s
General that the minimum age should be raised to develop a few changes to the most
significant abuses of children. In the year 2019, the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill was
introduced in the Federal Parliament of the country to change the minimum age of child
crime (Compton et al. 2016). A framework has been developed by the United Nations to
respond to the children in conflict with the law, which has also been included through the

3. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In addition, increasing the age of children to
include them in the justice system is vital, as it is able to increase the neurobiological effect
on children under the age of 14 years. Previously, it was recommended by the United
Nations that the age should be 12. However, it has been increased in the year 2018 to 14
years of age for children in Australia (Decker and Marteache 2017). The global study of UN
on Children Deprived of Their Liberty has duly recommended that the justice system of
child should increase the age to 14 years.
Recommendation And Conclusion
It has been identified that different organisations and the government of Australia is
focusing on more work on the age of children for the criminal responsibilities. It has been
identified different non-governmental firms are also focusing on completing their works on
the age between 14 to 16 years. Thus, it is recommended to the government and non-
government organisational that they should take appropriate steps to increase the
minimum age of children for criminal responsibilities to 14 years. The age should be
increases from ten to keep children in a positive situation. The inclusion of ten years of age
of children in the criminal responsibilities could affect the mental health. Moreover, positive
environment for the children under the age of 14 years is one of the essential aspects to
improve their activities. They could be taken into detention to provide improved and
positive surroundings. Criminal responsibilities should be charged to the children that are
above the age of 14 years.
It is also recommended to the organisations and the government of Australia that the
children that are young should be provided appropriate guidance to make their activities
proper. The inclusion of children less than 14 could affect them by including in the justice
system. Thus, it is essential to increase the age of them by 14 to help younger children to
stay in a positive environment. The mental state and mental health of these children could
be changed with appropriate guidance and surroundings. Thus, the age should be increased
to 14 for the justice system of Australia. It has also been recommended by several
organisations that the age should be increased. In most of the countries in the international
domain, the minimum age of children to be included into the justice system is between the
age groups of 14 to 16.
It was duly concluded from the proposed research that the age of children to be included in
the criminal responsibilities should be increased. This particular paper evaluates that
several organisations and governmental bodies are recommending to increase the age from
10 to 14 for the inclusion into the justice system. It is also essential for the children of 10 to
14 years of age to provide appropriate positive environment for the betterment of their
mental health. It was also concluded that in several countries, the minimum age of justice
system for the children is 14 to 16, which should be followed by the government of
Australia.

4. References
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