Youth prisoner advocates have called on the Queensland government to lift the age of criminal responsibility to 14 or 15 instead of expanding the state’s overcrowded juvenile incarceration system. The concerns are raised in submissions to a government-ordered youth detention review by the Youth Affairs Network of Queensland (YANQ) and advocacy group Sisters Inside. Queensland jails more children aged 10 to 13 than any Australian jurisdiction, almost 160 of a total youth prison population of 918 in 2014-15. In its submission Sisters Inside called for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 14, saying that would cut the annual population of child prisoners by 18%. Queensland prison riot: young inmates could face serious charges Read moreYANQ went further, urging Queensland to follow international “best practice” by adopting the Scandinavian model of 15 as the age of criminal responsibility and “welfare-based prevention” of youth crime.

Source: The Guardian November 18, 2016 06:15 UTC