Police and community groups have responded differently to the move.
The Victorian government has gone back on a pledge by former Premier Daniel Andrews to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, with his successor Jacinta Allan saying her decision is coming at a “different time, by a different government, with a different premier.”
The original proposal was to raise the age from 10 to 12, and then to 14 by 2027, with exceptions for serious offences such as murder and terrorism.
Andrews had hoped to achieve a national consensus but said his government wouldn’t hesitate to make the change alone.
“Where [the age] is now is not right. It needs to change,” he said.
But Allan has drawn the line at 12, noting that Victoria is still the first state in the country to raise it from 10.
“The legislation before the parliament will raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12, and that is where it will stay,” she said.
The decision follows several high-profile incidents involving alleged youth offenders, including two fatal car crashes.
Children as young as 10 can be charged, convicted and imprisoned across Australia, except in the Northern Territory, which raised the age of criminal responsibility to 12 in August 2023.
However the ACT has passed legislation which will raise the age to 14 by 2025 (with some exceptions), while Tasmania has indicated it will follow suit.
Victoria will also re-introduce laws against committing an offence while on bail, applying to adults and children. Similar laws were repealed in March, but Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes argues the new bail offence is different, as it applies to committing serious crimes rather than indictable offences.
It will also make bail harder to get.
“Bail is a privilege, not a given,” Allan said.
The changes are part of a 1,000-page youth justice bill being debated in the Victorian Parliament this week, which also creates an ankle monitoring trial for repeat offenders on bail and sets up a graduated system of warnings, cautions and diversions.
The premier confirmed no children under 14 were currently incarcerated in Victoria.
“The way we keep it that way is passing the youth justice bill that’s before the parliament because it is transformative reform.”
Police Response
Victoria Police have welcomed the U-turn on raising the age and the targeting of dangerous driving, aggravated burglary, home invasion and armed robbery.
“These are the offences we want to protect the community from and this will give us the power and the authority to do it,” Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said.
The police and the Police Association have always opposed an increase to 14, citing a spike in “prevalence and severity of criminal offending” among 12- and 13-year-olds.
Data from the Crime Statistics Agency shows crimes committed by 10 to 13-year-olds rose by 22.5 percent in 2023, while offences by 10- and 11-year-olds rose by 65 percent.
There was also a 30 percent increase among the 14- to 17-year-old age group, the highest rate of offending among that cohort since 2009.
“Victoria is largely a very safe state but we have got significant issues with child offending,” Patton said when the data was released.
However, the about-face has drawn criticism from community organisations, who argue that medical evidence shows younger children do not have the cognitive function to be held criminally responsible.
It claimed Victoria Police “manipulated data to manufacture fear about crime when it remains at historically low levels” and that “Aboriginal children are targeted by racist policing and courts.”
“Prison is devastating for children, and has lifelong impacts on their health, development, mental health and wellbeing. Evidence shows that the earlier a child is locked away in prison, the more the child is at risk of being entrenched in the criminal legal system and recriminalised later in life,” said the HRLC’s associate legal director Monique Hurley.
Swinburne University professor James Ogloff who—along with Justice Department Secretary Penny Armytage—led a 2016 review of the youth justice system which recommended stand-alone legislation, said the bill struck a good balance between keeping as many children as possible out of custody and protecting community safety.
“No bill can be a panacea,” he said.