New videos from NSW community leaders and frontline workers, including the Rev. Bill Crews; representatives from the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW and Just Reinvest NSW; and CEOs from St Vincent de Paul Society NSW and Youth Off The Streets are sending a powerful message to the NSW Government.
The leaders say the Government can do better for children and communities by raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 and investing in community-led support services. Quotes are available at the end of this release.
The message comes as the NSW Select Committee on Youth Justice holds their first hearings for the Youth Justice Inquiry.
Raise the Age NSW is supported by UnLtd and their partners in the media and advertising industry, who have donated the production of the videos offering hopeful alternatives to locking up and harming kids, which has failed to prevent or reduce crime.
‘In NSW, ten-year-olds can be sent to prison. That is too young,’ said Emily Mayo, Raise the Age NSW Campaign Coordinator.
‘The evidence is in. The younger a child is when failing systems force them into contact with police, handcuffs, courts and prison cells, the more likely it is they will have further contact across their lifetime. We can and should do better.’
About Raise the Age NSW
Raise the Age NSW is a coalition of Aboriginal Controlled Community Organisations, peak bodies, non-government organisations, unions and community groups working to raise the age of criminal responsibility in NSW.
In their submission to the Youth Justice Inquiry, they say the single most effective way to keep children out of the criminal legal system is to stop criminalising them in the first place.
Raise the Age NSW is urging the Select Committee to recommend the NSW Government raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 and invest in local services, as a catalyst to delivering better outcomes for children, communities and the budget bottom-line.
Read the Raise the Age NSW submission.
Quotes from Community Leaders and Raise the Age NSW Lead Group Members:
‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are disproportionately harmed by the low age of criminal responsibility in NSW. Raising the age of criminal responsibility is an important step towards closing the gap for our kids, who are grossly over-represented in NSW police stations, courts and youth prisons.
‘Most children forced into the justice system have complex unmet needs, including undiagnosed disability, poverty and trauma. They have been failed by the very decision-makers and systems meant to protect and support them. Punishing these children only makes communities less safe: all the evidence shows that locking children up makes them exponentially more likely to become trapped in an ongoing cycle of future offending and imprisonment.
‘If we are serious about community safety, we need to invest in solutions that prevent children from being forced into contact with the criminal justice system in the first place.’ Sharif Deen, Acting CEO, Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited
‘Just Reinvest NSW calls on Chris Minns to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, without exception. The recent wave of tougher bail laws and punitive policies is driving more children into detention, not making communities safer. Aboriginal children, just 4.5% of the population, now make up around 60% of those locked up. That is not justice, it is a systemic failure that demands urgent reform.
‘There is a better way: investing in Aboriginal community-led solutions like justice reinvestment, which address the drivers of offending and keep children supported in their communities, not behind bars.’ Geoff Scott, CEO, Just Reinvest NSW
‘Carceral systems, including policing and prisons, are riddled with structural racism. These systems entrench systemic disadvantage and worsen cycles of harm and trauma for First Nations children. This is not ‘justice’. Our children deserve to be met with care, not punishment.
‘For generations, First Nations communities and young people themselves have been doing the work to keep children connected to family and culture, supporting them to thrive. The NSW Government must sustainably invest in these community-led solutions, guided by First Nations self-determination and children’s human rights.’ Jade Lane, CEO, Change the Record
‘The criminalisation of children is without question a deeply flawed policy failure — one that entrenches disadvantage, drives reoffending, and causes lifelong harm.
‘Governments have a clear choice—continue funding failure or invest in solutions that actually work.
‘That means raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 and investing in community-led supports that keep children safe at home, with their families and in their communities where they belong.
‘For too long, governments have been choosing the wrong path — putting politics before people and votes before values.’ Blake Alan Cansdale, National Director, ANTAR
‘The kids we are policing and sending to prison in this State are our most disadvantaged. All of us should want better for these children and their families, this includes our Government.
‘It’s unfathomable that the Government, with all the evidence it has about these children, continues to hurt them and in doing so make it more likely that these kids commit more crime as they grow up.
‘The NSW Government should lead the way and raise the age, not only because it’s the right thing to do but because it makes sense.’ Rev. Bill Crews, The Bill Crews Foundation
‘Our children and our communities deserve real solutions, not fake ones. Those solutions are to be found in our communities and that’s where we need to be investing.
‘When we criminalise young children, we have failed. It’s time we stopped accepting failure.’ Jonathon Hunyor, CEO, Justice and Equity Centre
‘Raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 is essential to breaking the cycle of trauma, disadvantage and adult incarceration. It costs more than $1 million a year to keep a young person in jail and we know when they come out, they’re more likely to reoffend.
‘We need to stop managing crises and start investing in families and communities from the very beginning. Every child deserves the opportunity to thrive, not just survive a broken system.’ Cara Varian, CEO, NCOSS
‘We know that the younger a child is when they come into contact with police and the criminal legal system, the more likely it is they will have further contact across their lifetime. Jail is no place for a 10-year old!
‘Children who are struggling need to be wrapped around with care, understanding and support, not imprisonment and punishment away from their families and community.
‘What they do need is people in their corner, believing in them and supporting them.
It makes absolute sense economically, socially and morally to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 and invest in services that can provide the tailored support needed to achieve better outcomes for these children and their families.’ Siobhan Bryson, CEO, Weave Youth & Community Services
‘Criminalising children is a policy and political failure. It’s as simple as that. It’s time for the Government to act, and raise the age to at least 14, rather than more of the same, which delivers terrible outcomes for children and doesn’t prevent crime.
‘We see the ripple effects of criminalising children, and the long-lasting, negative impacts across our services in the community.
‘This positive policy change would go some way to tackling entrenched disadvantage for some of our most vulnerable children.’ Alice Salomon, Head of Advocacy, Uniting NSW.ACT
‘UnLtd secured the support of the advertising industry pro‑bono, while Raise the Age NSW mobilised powerful community voices. Together, we have created compelling stories calling for a happier tenth birthday for every child in NSW. This campaign is an invitation for the government to do better for children and communities, and we hope they take it.’ Jade Harley, Director of Impact, UnLtd
Community leaders are available for further comment.
Media contact: Seamus May, 0478 739 280 / [email protected]
