(Sydney, May 26, 2025) – Australia’s reelected Labor government should show national leadership by raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility and ending the incarceration of children as young as 10, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Attorney-General Michelle Rowland. The Australian Labor Party (ALP) has been backsliding from its previous public commitment to work with state and territory governments in Australia to raise the age.
Currently, children as young as 10-years-old can be held criminally responsible and incarcerated in most Australian jurisdictions. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child urges that making the minimum age of criminal responsibility at least 14 years, acknowledging that children under 14 are still undergoing critical brain development.
“The Australian criminal legal system’s mistreatment of children is one of the country’s most pressing human rights concerns,” said Annabel Hennessy, Australia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The lack of progress on raising the age means children as young as 10 will continue to be tried as adults and imprisoned, contrary to international standards.”
Before the federal election on May 3, 2025, Human Rights Watch wrote to all major political parties to seek their positions on various human rights issues, including raising the age of criminal responsibility.
In its response, the ALP stated that reform of the age of criminal responsibility is “overwhelmingly” a matter for the states and territories. This is a significant departure from the party’s position during the 2022 election, which was that it believed the age of criminal responsibility was “too young” and it would work closely with the states and territories to ensure it “reflects what is best for children.”
The long-term harm of incarceration to children’s mental and physical development is well known. In Australia, children have been locked up in adult prisons and placed in solitary confinement for more than 23 hours a day. In the most serious examples, children have died in Australian youth detention. While it is rare for children to be incarcerated under federal law, raising the age of criminal responsibility federally would send a powerful message to the states and territories. The government is yet to enact the recommendations of a 2024 report by the National Children’s Commissioner that urged national reform of the youth legal system.
“Australia’s newly reelected government has an opportunity to provide national leadership to the states and territories that are violating children’s rights,” Hennessy said. “The government should urgently act to ensure that the appropriate officials provide all children with the assistance and services they need.”