Kevin TRAN, Ms Barney- Examining the Age of Criminal Responsibility: Understanding Legal Accountability and Youth Justice" Introduction The specific topic of this is to delve into the age of criminal responsibility in Queensland, Australia, this report examines the criminal responsibility of youth offenders. This report will examine the arguments and debates for the age of criminal responsibility threshold. Nature and Scope The nature and scope of the age of criminal responsibility refers to the legal concept that determines the minimum age at which individuals can be held accountable for their actions. In Queensland, Australia, age of criminal responsibility is represented by the Youth Justice Act 1992.The age of criminal responsibility refers to the minimum age of which a person can be held legally accountable for their crime and can be charged for the crime they committed this is represented by section 29 Shows that offenders aged 10 to 14 can be held accountable for their if it is proven that they knew what they were doing was wrong. Age of criminal responsibility is an important concept that changes across different jurisdictions. Queensland, Australia, age of criminal responsibility has been in discussion and debating to see if it should be changed. The intentions for the age of criminal responsibility in Queensland is reduce recidivism most children reoffend making the system not effective. The consequences of the current system have left our youth offenders in the Queensland community scarred for life, The potential harm inflicted upon them by subjecting them to imprisonment, they are often imprisoned in adult facilities this is inhumane and counterproductive. No child should be suffering from this, most children often end up reoffending. Viewpoint 1 The issue is that children should not be put in cells at such vulnerable ages. These kids are mentally traumatized. The prefrontal cortex in the brain develops at 25, which is responsible for them to process information about what is good or bad, therefore children are more likely to make irrational decisions. They should not be prosecuted if they cannot identify the difference between good or bad. The age of criminal of responsibility was designed to help these children. This is not the case according to Queensland youth reoffending data between 2019-2023. 58.6% of these children end up reoffending again, this is staggering, if the system is meant to why are they reoffending, the support is lacking for these children they do not deserve this. Introducing children to juvenile detention leads to criminogenic effect making them reoffend over and over. The age of criminal responsibility should be changed to 14 years old, so these children are not introduced to such harsh conditions, this will significantly reduce the reoffending rates. Viewpoint 2 The age of criminal responsibility should not be changed, residents are getting effected by the increase of youth crime, without this system children won’t be rehabilitated into the community due to the lack of support; juvenile provides support towards the children and teaches them to not reoffend again, it also gives support such as food and resources to those are unfortunate to not afford it. According to data the rate of unique youth offenders fell by 31% to 1,926.4 per 100,000 people in 2021/22, compared with 2,792.8 per 100,000 people in 2012-13. This data is significant since it shows that the crime rate for youth offenders has significantly been reduced this is due to the age of criminal responsibility playing a role in the legal system, it gives support to the children that need it and helps rehabilitate them. The age of criminal has a major role in the safety of children and the community, without its crime rates will be increasing, just because they are a child doesn’t mean they can’t cause harm to the community. The complex issues these children suffer, cannot be changed by a law, these children are affected by various things including, domestic violence, mental health, lack of education and bad parenting these issues need to be addressed before changing the age of criminal responsibility, this will be more effective and beneficial towards the youth. Raising the age of criminal responsibility removes accountability for bad behaviour a better solution is to find the root cause of these offences and addressing it, this will assist the individual to not reoffend again. Recommendation A way of changing the current legal situation is introducing more support towards these children, most of these children lack support and end up committing crimes, we must find the root cause of these problems and address them. Education access should be made easier towards indigenous children as they have inaccessible education thus learning about the legal system is difficult. Ben Beaumont was a victim of murder and armed robbery, his offenders both aged 14, one on bail and the other on probation they never received prison sentences, it is clear this legal system is not effective, they should not be getting away with murder or robbery even If they are a child, the intentions of murder are clear they know what they are doing they should prosecuted or charged . Introducing Restorative Justice will help the offender the impact they caused the victim and their family, this will help put the youth offender accountable for their actions while understanding the harm they committed towards the victim and their family. The Productivity Commission's report on Youth Justice Services found 56.8 per cent of juvenile offenders in Queensland aged 10 to 16, studies have been conducted showing that Restorative Justice lowers the reoffending rates this is effective to lowering the overall the youth crime rate, it promotes sympathy towards the victim. Reference list readMarch 5, M.D.R. min and 2023 - 8:55pm (2023). ‘I can’t sleep at night’: Sky News investigation lifts lid on Qld’s youth crime epidemic. [online] skynews. Available at: https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/sky-news-australiaspecial-investigation-jonathan-lea-lifts-lid-on-queenslands-deepening-youthcrime-epidemic/news-story/18297ff248fc7f4a608f9dde1b1d5eb3. Eaton, M. (2023). Queensland tops nation for child detention and youth repeat offenders, Productivity Commission data reveals. [online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-24/qld-youth-detention-figures-show-high-recidivistrate/101886998. Ryan, M. (2023). Rate of unique youth and adult offenders lowest on record. [online] Ministerial Media Statements. Available at: https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/97530.
