The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service is calling on the State Government to raise the age of criminal responsibility despite the outcome of yesterday’s Council of Attorneys-General meeting.
Yesterday the Council of Attorneys-General discussed the prospect of raising the age of criminal responsibility, however they decided not to, saying they want to see what alternatives to jailing children would look like.
Currently, anywhere in Australia a child as young as 10 could be charged and detained, which is out of step with international standard of 14 years old.
A recent report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found that at any given night, 53 per cent of children in detention were Indigenous.
CEO of VALS, Nerita Waight says with the current focus on Black Lives Matter, the country’s law makers have shown little black lives don’t matter.
She says Governments using the excuse that more needs to be known about alternatives to prison is a half-hearted response.
