The Victorian government is set to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12, with a view to increasing it again to the international standard of 14 within four years.
Guardian Australia has confirmed cabinet approved the plan, first reported by the Age, at a meeting on Monday afternoon.
It is expected Victoria’s attorney general, Jaclyn Symes, will tell her federal, state and territory counterparts on Friday that the government will raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12, with some exceptions for serious offending.
It will then look to increasing it again to 14 by no later than 2027, a senior government source confirmed.
The source said the staged approach would give the government time to bolster prevention, intervention and diversion programs for at-risk youth.
Across Australia, children as young as 10 can be convicted and jailed, with Indigenous children being disproportionately affected.
Momentum has been growing to raise the age to the international standard of 14, given medical evidence shows children younger than this may not have the required capacity to be considered criminally responsible.
The standing council of attorneys general (Scag) has been examining the issue for several years. In December, its working group released a draft report which recommended raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 without exception.
Some jurisdictions have already abandoned the process, with the Northern Territory raising the age to 12 in the second half of 2023 and the Australian Capital Territory to 14 by 2026.
Tasmania will lift the minimum age of incarceration to 14, while leaving the age of criminal responsibility at 10.
Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, in February flagged going it alone if a national consensus was not reached before Friday’s Scag meeting.
However, the decision to raise the age to 12 has been condemned by Indigenous organisations, legal experts, medical bodies and human rights groups.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians wrote to Symes on Friday to urge the government to raise the age to 14 with “no exceptions” and “no carve outs”.
Its president, paediatrician Dr Jacqueline Small, said the decision to raise the age to 12 was “deeply concerning” and “flies in the face of medical advice”.
“Many children in the youth justice system have significant neurodevelopmental disabilities, and other physical and mental health needs, which are compounded by contact with the youth justice system and incarceration,” Small said.
The co-chair of Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly, Bangerang and Wiradjuri elder Aunty Geraldine Atkinson, described the move as “heartbreaking”.
“I have very mixed emotions, I’m trying to focus on the positive that the increase is a slight improvement of the barbaric practice of sending 10-year-old children to prison, but 12 is not something to celebrate, it’s not a welcome move,” she said.
“All the experts say it should be at least 14 … we know too well the damage that is inflicted when our children are removed from community.”
The Greens justice spokesperson, Katherine Copsey, accused the government of delaying plans to raise the age to 14 until after the next state election.
“There is absolutely no reason we can’t raise the age to at least 14 in this term of parliament,” she said.
“This is something experts and advocates have been calling for decades, so it beggars belief that the government is kicking this can down the road yet again.”
An open letter signed by 126 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, health, legal, community and human rights organisations released on Monday reiterated calls to stop jailing 10-year-olds and raise the age to at least 14 years old, with no exception.
A spokesperson for the federal attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the commonwealth government was “working closely with state and territory governments on the issue of raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility”.
“We have already seen welcome moves by the Northern Territory and the ACT,” the spokesperson said.
The NSW and Queensland governments said they will consider any recommendations and findings of the Scag working group examining the issue.
Additional reporting by Eden Gillespie and Tamsin Rose
