Human Rights body calls out Australia for 10-year-olds in jail

Advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticised Australia’s governments for allowing children as young as 10 to be jailed.

In itson human rights around the world, HRW said the policy has “marred” Australia’s human rights record.

It comes three months after the Northern Territory Government reversed a previous law to allow 10-year-olds to be convicted of crimes.

Responsibility

The age of criminal responsibility in most of Australia is 10. This means any child younger than 10 cannot be charged or prosecuted by police.

When children under 14 face trial, prosecutors must prove they knew what they were doing was wrong.

The Northern Territory was the first jurisdiction to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12, in 2022.

Following territory elections last year, the new.

Victoria’s Parliament passed a law to raise the age to 12 in the state last year. Despite previous plans to raise it to 14, however, Premier Jacinta Allan has said 12 “is where it will stay.”

Tasmania has committed to raising the age to 14 by 2029.

The age in the ACT is currently 12, but it will rise to 14 on 1 July this year, except for serious crimes including murder.

HRW report

, HRW releases a report on countries’ human rights track record.

Australia’s section largely focused on juvenile detention, which the report said had “marred” the country’s overall record.

“The Australian government’s treatment of children in its criminal justice system went from bad to worse in 2024,” said Annabel Hennesy, an Australian-based researcher for HRW.

Hennessy described the imprisonment of children as a “blot” on Australia’s human rights record.

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HRW noted the detention of children in adult facilities in Queensland and Western Australia.

This includes children being held in Queensland watchhouses, which are designed for short-term detention. Children in watchhouses typically don’t have access to their support services or education.

According to data given to TDA, 1,500 children were held in a Qld watchhouse for at least a week from 2018 to 2023.

In August 2023, the Qld Government suspended the state’s Human Rights Act to allow children to be kept in watchhouses. Qld Police are currently reviewing the system.

The report also criticised the use of spit hoods on children. Spit hoods are fabric head coverings intended to stop detainees from spitting at police or prison guards.

An Australian Federal Police review found spit hoods have been “implicated in a number of deaths in custody”.

In 2016, the ABC released footage of a First Nations teenage boy being restrained and hooded for nearly two hours at the NT’s Don Dale Youth Detention Centre.

The then-Labor NT Government banned spit hoods in 2022. The new NT Government has reinstated their use.

First Nations

The HRW also pointed out that “disparities” in the criminal justice system between First Nations and non-First Nations Australians “remain enormous”.

In particular, the rate of First Nations children make up roughly 60% of the juvenile prison population, according to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

According to the report, around 2,266 First Nations adults per 100,000 are imprisoned, compared to 149 of every 100,000 non-First Nations Australians.