During the 12 month period 2017-2018, more than five-and-a-half
thousand young people aged 10 and over were under youth justice
supervision on an average day.
Eighteen percent were in detention and, of those , 60% were
unsentenced. Half were Indigenous.
These are the numbers from the most recent
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) youth justice
report.
These figures have contributed to calls to raise of the age of
criminal responsibility in Australia from 10 years to 14.
The Current Law
In New South Wales, the law assumes that children aged under the
age of 10 cannot be found guilty of an offence.
This principle is enshrined in
section 5 of the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987.
