Currently there are close to 600 children under the age of 14 years who are in youth prisons across Australia each year.1 Children who are taken to a barbed wire facility, strip searched on entry, given limited access to peers, teachers and supports, and separated from family and community. And it is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who are most impacted by this injustice. In 2019, 70% of the kids aged 10-13 years in youth prisons in Australia were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. The over-representation of Aboriginal young people in the criminal justice system remains year after year at disgraceful levels. Each and every day ALS solicitors take calls through our Custody Notification Service regarding children in custody and speak to distressed families. Each and every day the ALS helps children and young people with different stories but the same themes; a child strip searched for $2, a child arrested for stealing $3.20 worth of lollies, a child too small to be seen over the dock, a child self-harming in juvenile detention, a child tying a jumper around his neck in the court cells. The stories of injustice are far too common.
We should be supporting kids to thrive in community and culture, not separating them from their families by locking them up in harmful prisons. Rather than harming, stigmatising and marginalising these 600 children in the criminal justice system, we should change the law so that we give kids every possible opportunity to succeed.
There is also a clear policy imperative to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) and divert children and young people from custody. We know that detention has adverse effects on an individual and only serves to compound existing issues for vulnerable children and young people. The families and communities of children or young people in custody bear additional social and economic costs. And research tells us that children who encounter the criminal justice system at an early age tend to go on to have further and more severe interactions with police and courts than young people who have similar experiences at a later age.
Right now, Australia is lagging behind the rest of the world. Currently the MACR in all Australian jurisdiction is 10 years, compared to a global median MACR of 14.5. This is in spite of overwhelming evidence - from Aboriginal organisations and our communities, medical experts, legal experts and human rights bodies - that detention, as well as any other interaction with the criminal justice system, harms children.
This submission seeks to demonstrate the critical need to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) to at least 14 years of age in all Australian jurisdictions, without delay and without exception.
Please note that names and other person circumstances within this submission have been altered to protect privacy.
Tips to browse safely online
Here you'll find some basic tips to protect your privacy and reduce the ability for people to see what you do online.
The 'Close this site' button
Some pages on this website include a 'Close this site' button. Use this button to quickly hide what you are looking at. You might find this helpful if someone comes into the room or looks over your shoulder and you don't want them to know what you've been looking at.
When you use the 'Close this site' button, it immediately closes this website and opens the Google search page in a new window.
You can also quickly close this site by using the ESC button on your computer keyboard. It immediately closes this website and opens the Google search page in a new window.
The 'Close this site' function doesn't delete your browser history. This means that if someone checks your browser history on your computer or mobile device, they will be able to see everything you looked at on our website.
Clear your browsing history regularly
Web browsers keep track of your online activity through your browser history, cookies and caching. This is so you can find websites you've visited before, but it also means other people can see this data.
To protect your privacy, it's a good idea to clear your browsing history regularly. You can choose to delete everything or only some things.
Find out how to clear your browsing history in:
For other browsers and devices, check the provider's website.
Use private browsing
Private browsing is an easy way to hide your browsing habits. If enabled, when you close your browser, all browsing history and stored cookies from future browsing sessions will automatically disappear.
However, the sites you visited during your current browsing session will record your browsing activity. Your internet service provider will also record this information. Any files you download using private browsing won't be deleted, so other people can access them if they use your device.
Find out how to enable private browsing in:
- Internet Explorer
- In the 'Tools' menu (the cog icon on top right of the browser window), select 'Safety', then 'InPrivate Browsing'.
- Google Chrome
- Firefox
- Safari
- Safari on iPhones or iPads.
For other browsers and devices, check the provider's website.
Accounts and passwords
Don't let your browser auto-save your passwords. While the auto-save function may be convenient, it gives anyone who uses your device access to your accounts.
When you are using an account with a password (e.g. your social media or email account), always log out before leaving the website.
Using other computers and devices
If you are worried about someone looking at your internet use, consider using a computer or device that they can't access.
This might be a computer at your local library, your work computer, or a family or friend's device. But again, don't auto-save any passwords and make sure you log out of your accounts when you've finished using the computer.
This advice is from
"Tips to browse safely online"
by
The State of Queensland.
The content is licensed under the
CC BY 4.0 license.
© The State of Queensland 2024.
