NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman is yet to take a stance on the issue.Credit:Kate Geraghty
The issue was discussed at Monday's meeting of the Council of Attorneys-General but NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman said any decision had been deferred to 2021 to allow a working group,led by the Western Australian justice department,to examine alternatives to imprisonment.
Mr Speakman,who is yet to take a stance on the issue,said the onus was on those wanting to raise the age to make that case but at this stage"we are yet to be convinced".
"If there is a move to raise the age of criminal responsibility you have to identify what is the alternative for children who would otherwise be subject to the criminal justice process,"Mr Speakman said.
"And that is where further work needs to be done. What are the therapeutic interventions the behaviour interventions,the social support,the educational interventions that offending children need if they are not going to be dealt with by the criminal justice system?"
There were almost 600 children aged 10 to 13 in detention in Australia last financial year. More than 60 per cent were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children. The Council of Attorneys-General,made up of attorneys-general from the Australian government and all states and territories,agreed in 2018 it would be appropriate to consider raising the age from 10 to 14.
Mr Speakman said in NSW there were currently 200 young people in youth justice centres,down by a third from five years ago. The youngest offenders in the NSW corrections system were three offenders who are aged 13 with no-one aged between 10 to 12 in youth justice.