Mother-of-three Amy believed in the criminal justice system until one day in 2019, when she was arrested by police after being misidentified as an aggressor during a family violence incident.
“I was so naive. I told the police the truth, that I was fearing for my life and my safety, I didn’t expect that I would end up in jail,” she told Guardian Australia.
Amy, who cannot use her surname for legal reasons, was remanded in custody overnight before a bail hearing the following morning.
Under 2018 reforms to Victoria’s bail laws, she had to prove she had “compelling reasons” or “exceptional circumstances” to be released on bail. Before, she would not have been subject to either test.
“I explained I had two older children, one of which had disability and would go into foster care if I was remanded, and I told them I had a baby who was 17 months old and had spent every day of his life in my care,” she told Guardian Australia.
“I was told I didn’t meet the threshold and I was remanded into custody. I ultimately pleaded guilty to the charge just to get out because I wasn’t seeing my children.”
Amy spent a total of 120 days in jail and has lost custody of two of her children.
She shared her story with a parliamentary inquiry into Victoria’s criminal justice system that on Thursday recommended the state government review its bail laws after the recent changes had led to a rise in the number of people on remand. Women were disproportionately affected.
Also among the report’s 100 recommendations is to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14.
In the report, the chair of the legislative council’s legal and social issues committee, Reason party MP Fiona Patten, wrote that raising the age to 14 was consistent with evidence about child development, international norms and human rights standards.
She said it would help “divert children into social services rather than trapping them in the criminal justice system from an early age”.
Across Australia, children as young as 10 can be arrested by police, remanded in custody, convicted by the courts and jailed.
Indigenous children are disproportionately affected and make up the vast majority of imprisoned children.
However, Amy had long hoped for a direct recommendation to change the state’s bail laws. Instead, they were recommended to be reviewed.
The inquiry found almost half of all women in prison were on remand – an increase from 22% in 2010. A larger proportion of women had been held on remand in recent years than men, with this figure even higher for Aboriginal women.
The inquiry also found female victim-survivors of family violence were regularly misidentified by police and recommended additional training and education for officers.
The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Human Rights Law Centre, Fitzroy Legal Service and FlatOut are calling on the Andrews government to urgently reform the state’s bail laws, including by repealing the reverse-onus provisions.
“This report is a long overdue wake-up call and an opportunity for the Andrews government to make the right decision and fix Victoria’s bail laws,” said Monique Hurley, a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre.
After the report’s release, the premier, Daniel Andrews, addressed the recommendation to raise the age of criminal responsibility and said he would prefer a national approach.
“On this issue, we are very much invested in a national process and we think a national outcome is better,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“If it seems that there’s not going to be a national outcome, then of course we will look at this issue.”
Australia’s attorneys general last month agreed to develop a plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 but the move was criticised by legal, human rights and Indigenous groups, which said it would do little to reduce the number of children in prison.
The inquiry also recommended the Victorian government invest in community-based social, health, legal and forensic services to help address the factors underpinning the criminal behaviours of children and young people.
