Introduction by Croakey: The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Australian Medical Association NT, SNAICC – the National Voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, the CEO of the National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners (NAATSIHWP), Amnesty International, ANTAR and many leading health professionals and human rights advocates have sounded the alarm about the Northern Territory Government’s plans to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10.
The move, which will have a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, has been described in previous articles at Croakey as racist, ineffective, a backward step and “morally bankrupt”. The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) warns that it will perpetuate cycles of trauma, violence and government neglect, rather than preventing crime.
Speaking on Radio National last Friday, the Territory’s new Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro defended the move, saying that the Country Liberal Party had campaigned “to put the rights of people to be safe above the rights of people doing the wrong thing” as crime was “the number one issue” for people in the NT.
Lowering the age of criminal responsibility to ten “allows us to make sure that young people who are falling into a life of crime can be diverted into a better pathway,” she said.
“If we raise the age, it means there can be no legal response which means you can’t then make sure young people are engaged in boot camps, for example, or programs to turn their lives around and it also means you can’t hold parents accountable.”
Finocchiaro also defended her Government’s plans to reintroduce the use of spit hoods, saying that the use of “new modern spitguards in this highly regulated environment provides additional protection” for frontline workers.
For more background on the use of spithoods, see this 2023 position paper by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in the NT, which warns that “the use of such devices on children involved in the justice system is not safe in any circumstance and is highly likely to cause further harm to the child”, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at greatest risk.
“Children in the Northern Territory who find themselves either at risk of, or on the pathway into, the justice system are often subjected to cumulative vulnerabilities which they, and often their families, have little control or influence over,” says the paper.
“This includes histories of child removal, intergenerational trauma, low educational attainment or engagement, socio-economic disadvantage (including systemic racism and ongoing impacts of colonisation), disability, poor health and adverse childhood experiences.”
Today the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association added its influential voice to the chorus of concerns about the CLP Government’s plans, urging that the age of criminal responsibility instead be raised to 14, in line with global recommendations.
Statement by the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association
The Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA) is deeply concerned at the new Northern Territory CLP government’s plan to lower the age of criminal responsibility back to 10 years old.
The medical evidence is clear that children of this age have age related brain development and therefore, immature higher functions such as planning, reasoning, judgement and impulse control will not be fully developed until they are into their 20s.
Children aged 10 to 12 are physically and neurodevelopmentally vulnerable and require a different response to behavioural issues than older children.
These are primary school aged children who should be receiving additional health care, social and wellbeing support, not being incarcerated in prison. Children in detention have high levels of complex health issues which worsen in detention, which is a non-therapeutic environment.
“This issue disproportionately impacts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the most harmful ways,” AIDA CEO, Donna Burns stated.
“The higher rates of detention for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children impacts on social and emotional wellbeing.”
“Why not use the opportunity to support a child in distress rather than punish them with prison?” CEO Donna Burns asks.
Providing services and structures to support children and families will have positive impacts.
We do not want to go back to the very recent past with the brutal and inhumane practice of imprisoning 10-12 year old children – who made up a significant sevel percent of the total NT youth detention population.
This flies in the face of human rights obligations, as we should be affirming the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) .
The trend in detention rates in the NT has been alarming. Over the past few years, the NT has seen an increase in the proportion of Aboriginal children in detention.
We know that child-removal policies and out of home care, policing practices, and systemic disadvantage all intersect to impact on the rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children being detained.
Incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people results in denial of connection to culture and Country, changes in familial structures, underdevelopment and failure to thrive, and the child entering a cycle of trauma and re-traumatisation.
Despite recommendations from inquiries and commissions such as the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT, meaningful reductions in detention rates have not occurred and rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people have increased. This reflects the ongoing systemic racism and discrimination faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.
If we are to reach the Closing the Gap target #11 – to reduce the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people (aged 10-17) in detention by at least 30 percent by 2031, then we must listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, along with other health experts, and raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14-years-old.
• The Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association (AIDA) is the peak body representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical students and doctors in Australia. Our purpose is to grow ethical and professional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors who will lead and drive equitable and just outcomes for our people.
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