The Victorian government has walked back its promise to increase the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 in a move that's been described as 'cowardly'. The announcement came as the government unveiled a suite of new laws aimed at reducing youth crime in the state.
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00:00An about-face 16 months in the making.
00:04I'm pleased to confirm that we have a position where we want to raise the age to 14.
00:09The bill that's before the Legislative Council this week raises the minimum age of criminal
00:14responsibility to 12.
00:16The Andrews Government plan to increase the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to
00:2114 has been scrapped.
00:23This decision has been made at a different time, by a different government, with a different
00:28Premier.
00:29The decision was slammed by youth justice advocates.
00:33We certainly feel as though this decision is treacherous to our children and our communities.
00:41We are going to see children as young as 10, until the law gets raised to at least 12,
00:47being entwined in the criminal legal system and unfortunately we are going to continue
00:52to see more victims of crime.
00:54It's part of the Government's Youth Justice Bill, aimed at reducing what police say is
00:58a concerning increase in crimes committed by young people.
01:02This is targeting those people that the community is in uproar about.
01:06Other reforms include a new bail test, which will make it harder for children deemed an
01:11unacceptable risk to be remanded.
01:14A new offence for children who commit a serious crime on bail will be created, a new taskforce
01:19focused on reducing youth crime will be established and ankle bracelets tracking youth offenders
01:25will be trialled.
01:26Strengthening where we need to around that high risk serious offending, but also too,
01:33looking at how we can divert young people away from a life of crime because that we
01:38know is also what keeps the community safe.
01:41The Government's amendments to the Youth Justice Bill are unpopular with both sides of politics.
01:46Some progressives on the crossbench say they go too far, while the Liberal opposition say
01:51they don't go far enough.
01:53Debate on the bill is expected to go well into the night on sitting days this week and
01:57if the bill doesn't get up, it will come at a significant political cost to the Government.