Can a 10-year-old be responsible for a crime? Here’s what brain science tells us
Can a 10-year-old be responsible for a crime? Here’s what brain science tells us
MELBOURNE: The age a child can be arrested, charged and jailed in Australia is back in the spotlight.
Last year, the Northern Territory became the first jurisdiction to raise the age of criminal responsibility from ten to 12. Now its new, tough-on-crime government has pledged to return it to ten. It comes after Victoria walked back its earlier commitment to raise the age to 14, settling instead on 12.
But the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child says 14 should be the absolute minimum. It raised this age from its earlier recommendation (in 2007) of 12, citing a decade of new research into child and adolescent development.
