Child justice reform advocacy
30 May 2025
Around Australia (but particularly in the NT, Queensland and Victoria), crackdowns on offending by children are winding back the clock on protections meant to keep them out of the adult criminal justice system. From removing presumptions in favour of bail to prescribing harsh penalties in the name of ‘adult time for adult crime,’ jurisdictions are ignoring criminological evidence and impinging on children’s rights.
The Law Council acknowledges that some children can and do cause harm, but is very concerned about a national rush to adopt policies that are not recommended by experts, and that are unlikely to lead to safer communities over the longer term.
The Canberra Times published an opinion piece by President Juliana Warner on 10 May 2025, emphasising the seriousness of the Law Council’s concerns about such developments. The President noted that ‘[h]ow we treat our children is a reflection of who we are as a nation, the values we hold dear and the future we want for ourselves.’ Adopting policies that treat children like adults (ignoring all relevant research on brain development) and warehousing them in increasingly overcrowded remand facilities is not a solution of which we should be proud.
In this context, the Law Council released on 12 May 2025 a Policy Statement on Child Justice Reform. This Statement, which should be read in conjunction with the 2019 joint AMA/LCA Policy Statement on the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility, sets out the Law Council’s approach to child justice reform, which is based on evidence and relevant international human rights law. We will be calling on the Australian Government to do more in this area to ensure that minimum standards and protections are upheld, that statistics (including both spikes and long-term trends in crime rates) are not misrepresented, and that expert evidence on how best to tackle child offending is respected.
Following on from the 2025 Policy Statement and relevant advocacy last year, representatives of the Law Council and Law Society of Tasmania met with Tasmanian Deputy Premier Guy Barnett on 14 May 2025 to discuss recent developments in that jurisdiction, including the impressive Youth Justice Blueprint 2024--2034. It is our hope that more jurisdictions will come to see that an evidence-based, methodical approach such as that set out in the Blueprint is the right way to proceed.
Last Updated on 27/05/2025