The peak bodies for doctors and lawyers in Australia have said they are concerned about the increased politicisation of youth crime in the country and have demanded action on the "national tragedy" of jailing children as young as 10.
The joint statement from the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Law Council of Australia comes after Australia's National Children's Commissioner tabled a report on Tuesday labelling the treatment of children as young as 10-years-old in the criminal justice system is one of the most urgent human rights issues facing Australia today.
The report found many of the children interviewed were First Nations, dealing with "intergenerational trauma and disadvantage, and children with disabilities, mental health issues, and learning problems".
The report mirrors many of the concerns outlined by Western Australian Child Commissioner Jacqueline McGowan-Jones in her interviews with young children in detention in WA.
"The medical evidence is clear," AMA President Professor Steve Robson said.
"Incarceration harms children mentally and impairs their physical development.
"Most children in prison already come from backgrounds that are disadvantaged. These children often experience violence, abuse, disability, homelessness, and drug or alcohol misuse."
Both the AMA and the Law Council backed calls by Commissioner Hollonds to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility, which came only a week after the Victorian government reneged on their promise to raise it to 14 by 2027.
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive, Nerita Waight, previously told National Indigenous Times that a "fear mongering" campaign around youth crime did nothing to improve community safety, but instead used Aboriginal lives as a political football.
In submissions to Commissioner Hollond's report, both the AMA and the Law Council urged the minimum age of criminal responsibility be raised to 14 across the country.
Furthermore, they called for better justice reinvestment and support for community-led diversion programs for young people to steer people away from incarceration and reduce the rate of recidivism.
Law Council President, Greg McIntyre SC, said the current age was "unacceptable".
"The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child should be used only as a last resort," Mr McIntyre said.
"As a society, we do not allow 10-year-olds to drive, vote, board a plane unsupervised, or even open an account legally on any of the major social media platforms."
Mr McIntyre said governments needed to take "meaningful steps" towards raising the minimum age, to ensure all children can have the best start to their lives.
"Criminalising the behaviour of children as young as 10–13 results in significantly poorer life outcomes and disproportionately impacts disadvantaged groups, including those who have suffered family trauma or are victims of violence," he said.
Multiple Indigenous, Human Rights and medical groups have long called for the age to be raised and for young people to be kept out of incarceration.
Speaking at Melbourne University this week, Lawyer and Abolitionist Debbie Kilroy said children are "brutalised and violated every day that they are caged in this country".
"This country incarcerates children, abuses and traumatises them – this is a system built upon systemic harm," she said, while calling for solutions focussed on moving away from incarceration and "racial capitalism".
"It's time for us to step off the treadmill of reform and think about fundamental change.
"This means the end of incarceration. It means the end of punishment and exile. It means the end of warehousing people."
Australia has one of the lowest ages of criminal responsibility in the western world. Most jurisdictions continue to advocate the age to stay at 10 - including every Liberal/National Opposition - whilst NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns said earlier this year there were no plans to raise the age.
Queensland's Labor government has championed their tough on crime stance, which now sees more Aboriginal children jailed than anywhere else in the country — including some with severe mental disabilities.
The government has said they make no apologies for "keeping the community safe", and recently said they will remove detention as a last resort, described by human rights campaigner Maggie Munn as "deplorable" and against everything the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommend.
The latest Closing the Gap showed an alarming rise in the number of First Nations children removed from their homes and placed in out-of-home care (OOHC). Three-quarters of all Indigenous young people aged 10 to 13 in the youth justice system have previously been in contact with child protection.
"Criminalising the behaviour of young and vulnerable children creates a vicious cycle of disadvantage and increases the likelihood of ongoing experiences within the legal system," Professor Robinson said.
