On 15 September 2021, Queensland Greens MP Michael Berkman introduced the Criminal Law (Raising the Age of Responsibility) Amendment Bill 2021 (Bill) into the Queensland Parliament.
The Queensland Community Support and Services Committee is now conducting an Inquiry into the proposed bill. The objective of the Bill is to ensure children under 14 years of age are not incarcerated or otherwise punished under the criminal legal system, by raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Queensland from 10 to 14 years old and transferring any children under 14 years old out of custody.
In our submission QATSICPP indicates our support for the Bill but warns that without further development of and sufficient investment in culturally sound, community-based responses to intergenerational trauma impacts, raising the criminal age will have minimal long-term benefit for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, as the root causes of their offending will not be attended to in an effective way.
View full submission here.
