Victorian government abandons promise to raise criminal age to 14 amid youth justice reforms

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Victoria's Labor government has abandoned plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, as pressure mounts on it to do more to tackle youth crime.

Transcript

00:00The headline of these changes is that the government has walked away from its commitment

00:05to increase the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14.

00:09Instead it'll increase it from 10 to 12.

00:12It'll also establish a new task force that will aim at reducing the amount of youth offenders

00:19in the state.

00:20There's also a new focus on bail within these laws, making it tougher for youth offenders

00:24who commit serious crimes such as rape, murder, as well as aggravated assaults to receive

00:31bail.

00:32Now, the reason why this is significant is because almost a year ago now, the Premier

00:37at the time, Daniel Andrews, announced that the government would increase its age of criminal

00:42responsibility from 10 to 14, touting it as some of the most progressive bail reforms

00:47in the state.

00:48But today, Premier Jacinta Allen walked away from that saying that it's a new government,

00:52a new Premier, and that they'd be committing to 10 to 12 instead of that 10 to 14.

00:57She also said that there was the right emphasis on both victims as well as these youth offenders

01:02to be a more holistic approach.

01:04Let's have a listen to the Premier.

01:05We're delivering already a number of reforms that will make a real and important difference.

01:10More investment in education and employment programs, helping more young people to participate

01:16in treatment and rehabilitation programs.

01:19New changes too that mean victims can confront the youth offenders, giving victims a stronger

01:25voice and also youth offenders an understanding about the impact of their crime on victims

01:32of crime.

01:33These reforms deliver action at both ends of the spectrum, taking that whole of justice

01:38system response.

01:39Now, in terms of the reaction, the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service hasn't missed describing

01:44these changes as treacherous, saying that the government had given in to the pressure

01:49by the tabloid media here in Victoria.

01:51The Greens have also described it as cowardly, saying they won't be supporting it in the

01:56parliament.

01:57Now, on the other side of politics, the Liberal opposition here say they don't believe in

02:01an increase in the age at all, saying it should be kept at 10 and they won't be voting for

02:06it either.

02:07Why is that important?

02:08Well, because the Victorian government need both the Greens and the opposition to pass

02:12this legislation.

02:13It's very unlikely that they'll be able to pass it on their own with a few members of

02:18the crossbench.

02:19Now, in addition to all of this, the government says it is confident and can pass the laws

02:23but we'll have to wait and see what amendments there'll be to see if they get it through

02:27the House this week.

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