Raise the Age
Media and commentary about our work to Raise the Age, because children belong in schools and communities, not prisons.
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‘No child belongs in prison’: 128,000 signatures to raise the age in NSW and Victoria
More than 128,000 community members, lawyers, and advocates from NSW and Victoria have called for the age of legal responsibility to be raised to at least 14, and for an end to arresting, handcuffing, strip-searching and jailing children as young as 10. “The verdict from medical, legal and child development experts is clear: criminalising children…
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NSW petition to raise the age gets 63,000 signatures
Public Interest Advocacy Centre CEO Jonathon Hunyor said locking up children fails our community. “The verdict from medical, legal and child development experts is clear: criminalising children causes lifelong harm,” he said. In March, a NSW budget estimates hearing revealed 293 children aged between 11 and 13 had spent time in custody in 2021. More…
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2SER interview: Raise The Age
Right now, politicians are sending children as young as ten years old to be locked away in prison. PIAC is calling on MPs to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old and instead invest in solutions that work. 2SER Breakfast spoke with PIAC Solicitor and Gomeroi women, Emma Bastable about the NSW Raise the…
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Opinion: Australia must raise the age of responsibility to 14 or keep trapping children in a quicksand of criminality
Op ed by PIAC Senior Solicitor Emma Bastable, and Luke McNamara from UNSW Centre for Crime, Law & Justice.
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A better path, a safer future. How do we raise the age of criminal responsibility?
A joint seminar with the UNSW Centre for Crime, Law and Justice (CCLJ) and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC). Right now, in every Australian state and territory, children as young as ten can be arrested, charged and sent to jail. This is despite decades of medical, social and legal research highlighting the harm this…
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Politics triumphs over evidence as Attorneys General fail on raising the age
The statement by national Attorneys General to ‘support developing a proposal’ to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 is a political fudge that changes nothing and leaves children exposed to harm. Despite considering this issue for years and overwhelming evidence supporting the need to act urgently to raise the age…
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Shoebridge Bill highlights need for action to raise the age
An alliance of community, legal, and First Nations justice organisations has welcomed the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Amendment (Age of Criminal Responsibility) Bill 2021, introduced to NSW Parliament this morning by David Shoebridge MLC. This Bill would raise the age of criminal responsibility in NSW to 14, creating both better outcomes for children kept out of…
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Should ten year olds be jailed?
Australia is out of step with most of the world when it comes to the age we send kids to jail – here 10 year olds can be locked up. Most countries of Europe insist children need to be aged between 12 and 16 and it is sobering to note, of the children incarcerated aged…
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Attorneys-General defer decision to raise the age, despite decades of research supporting change
The Council of Attorneys-General (CAG) yesterday failed to commit to raising the age of legal responsibility from 10 to 14, leaving Australia out of step with the rest of the world, at odds with social and medical research, and out of touch with community expectations. Today a group of NSW-based organisations have joined together to…
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#RaiseTheAge forum
‘Raising the age of criminal responsibility is not just an Aboriginal issue, it’s about the fundamental human rights of young people in this country. However, like most human rights issues in this country it affects our people the most,’ – Daniel Daylight. Thank you to everyone who attended PIAC’s zoom forum on 21 July, and…