17: Australia's push to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility: is 12 years old enough?

The debate surrounding the appropriate minimum age for criminal responsibility (MACR) has been ongoing in Australia for almost three decades. With a MACR set at 10 in all states and territories in Australia since 2000, Australia has been, alongside New Zealand, heavily criticised for having one of t...

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1. Verfasser: Pearce, Estrella
Format: Online
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Edward Elgar Publishing 2025
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Online-Zugang:https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/166831
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author Pearce, Estrella
author_browse Pearce, Estrella
author_facet Pearce, Estrella
author_sort Pearce, Estrella
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description The debate surrounding the appropriate minimum age for criminal responsibility (MACR) has been ongoing in Australia for almost three decades. With a MACR set at 10 in all states and territories in Australia since 2000, Australia has been, alongside New Zealand, heavily criticised for having one of the lowest MACRs across the developed world. At a national level, no decision has been made about whether to raise the MACR and what age should be appropriate. Yet, with the long-standing debate gaining momentum following revelations in 2016 of patterns of abuse, deprivation and cruel punishment of vulnerable children in detention in the Northern Territory and the subsequent Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory, some Australian jurisdictions are finally now increasing the MACR. However, as this chapter highlights, there remain many concerns with both recent and proposed changes that continue to fail to bring the MACR in Australia in line with internationally acceptable standards.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1668312025-09-30T14:39:26Z 17: Australia's push to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility: is 12 years old enough? Pearce, Estrella Age of criminal responsibility; MACR; Young people JKVQ2 The debate surrounding the appropriate minimum age for criminal responsibility (MACR) has been ongoing in Australia for almost three decades. With a MACR set at 10 in all states and territories in Australia since 2000, Australia has been, alongside New Zealand, heavily criticised for having one of the lowest MACRs across the developed world. At a national level, no decision has been made about whether to raise the MACR and what age should be appropriate. Yet, with the long-standing debate gaining momentum following revelations in 2016 of patterns of abuse, deprivation and cruel punishment of vulnerable children in detention in the Northern Territory and the subsequent Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory, some Australian jurisdictions are finally now increasing the MACR. However, as this chapter highlights, there remain many concerns with both recent and proposed changes that continue to fail to bring the MACR in Australia in line with internationally acceptable standards. Published 2025-09-30T14:39:23Z 2025-09-30T14:39:23Z 2025-09-22 chapter 9781035300754 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/166831 eng image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/research-handbook-on-youth-criminology-9781035300747.html https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap-oa/book/9781035300754/chapter17.xml Edward Elgar Publishing Edward Elgar Publishing 10.4337/9781035300754.00029 10.4337/9781035300754.00029 01ceac28-75b4-492a-8eec-f9b98bc6b28c https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ 9781035300754 Edward Elgar Publishing Cheltenham, UK open access
spellingShingle Age of criminal responsibility; MACR; Young people
JKVQ2
Pearce, Estrella
17: Australia's push to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility: is 12 years old enough?
title 17: Australia's push to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility: is 12 years old enough?
title_full 17: Australia's push to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility: is 12 years old enough?
title_fullStr 17: Australia's push to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility: is 12 years old enough?
title_full_unstemmed 17: Australia's push to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility: is 12 years old enough?
title_short 17: Australia's push to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility: is 12 years old enough?
title_sort 17 australia s push to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility is 12 years old enough
topic Age of criminal responsibility; MACR; Young people
JKVQ2
topic_facet Age of criminal responsibility; MACR; Young people
JKVQ2
url https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/166831
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