Victoria dumps raising age of criminal responsibility

The state government is pushing ahead with legislation to raise the current age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12.

It had originally planned to then raise the age to 14 by 2027, but following a series of prominent incidents involving alleged youth offenders including two fatal car crashes, the government has decided to dump that move.

Children as young as 10 can be charged, convicted and imprisoned across Australia, except in the Northern Territory, which raised the age of criminal responsibility to 12 in August 2023.

The ACT passed legislation to raise the age to 14 by 2025 with some exceptions, while Tasmania has pledged to raise the minimum age of criminal detention to 14.