The ACT will become the only jurisdiction in Australia to raise the age a child can be held responsible for a crime to 14. The move has been applauded by experts and advocates who say locking up kids only entrenches crime. But already stretched services say they'll struggle to support the children diverted their way.
00:05Joe Hedges' gym is a haven for kids who've fallen off track.
00:10Boxing's all about discipline, it's about respect, it's about working hard.
00:15If you can develop those here in the ring, you can take those out into life.
00:20Over two decades of coaching, he's learnt the power of diverting children from the criminal justice system.
00:27Young people don't belong in custody, young people belong with their family, they belong in the community, they belong at school.
00:34The ACT will make history tomorrow by increasing the age of criminal responsibility to 14.
00:41Instead of facing charges, young people will be referred to a therapeutic support panel to help address the causes of their behaviour.
00:49There'll be exceptions for the most serious crimes, including murder and specific sexual offences.
00:56Criminalising young children really does no one any good.
01:01It doesn't help the children, in fact it harms the children, but also it doesn't keep communities any safer.
01:08Elsewhere in Australia, offenders as young as 10 can be locked up, and the political appetite to change that has largely disappeared.
01:17The ACT government is to be commended for frankly having such courage to push through in the face of a drag from other larger states in the opposite direction.
01:27Queensland recently introduced adult crime, adult time laws.
01:32Zero tolerance now!
01:34The territory has lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 10.
01:39And Victoria has backflipped on its pledge to raise the age to 14.
01:44I would hope that pushing through the growing pains of this process, perhaps there's a beacon for other states to be courageous as well.
01:53The ACT government says the territory is well prepared for the change, and there are no service gaps for ACT policing.
02:00It's confirmed the Safer Youth Response Service will start offering after hours support, taking crisis referrals from police.
02:09Community organisations know their programs can make a difference to troubled kids, but are worried about already stretched wait lists.
02:18There are 123 young people just in that age group alone.
02:21Through policing they've actually said we're going to get slammed with referrals, and I'm like, well, what, for a wait list?
02:28They're going to go on a wait list.
02:29It's a great change to raise that age, but what we need to see is that investment back into the community,
02:35and particularly for programs and services like the ones we run.
02:38Coming out swinging for more funding, so young people don't fall through the cracks.
