If Australia`s top legislation passes a radical new reform plan, criminals under the age of 16 will soon be able to escape charges.
Federal justice minister Porter (Christian Porter), who has signed a 12-month survey, and his state peers are assessing the possibility of raising the age of criminal responsibility from the current age of 10.
This astonishing program was part of a program aimed at reducing the number of children and adolescents in detain.
The current law rules that children under the age of 10 cannot be prosecute, based on the assumption that they do not fully understand right or wrong.
The Justice minister has discussed the possibility of raising the age of criminal responsibility to 16, depending on the severity of the crime, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The, human rights organization has long advocated raising the age of criminal responsibility after studies showed that teenagers` brains were not fully developed and that they did not have the same ability to reason in judgment as adults.
They also claim that the sooner a person enters the justice system, the more likely he or she is to commit a crime. New state child court dean Johnstone (Peter Johnstone) told the NSW investigation team he supports the idea, but believes the age limit should be raised to 12.
Johnston wants to see a process in which a child who commits a crime can understand why what he does is usually considered a crime.
Otherwise, he said, they would just continue to do what they were doing, commit more serious crimes at the age of 12 and return to the justice system.
In all states of Australia, the current law provides that children under 14 years of age can only be prosecute if they are successfully determined that their children understand their own behaviour. About 300 children aged 10 to 17 are currently in juvie detain in the new state.
