Let’s be Adult about being Juvenile
The Queensland Government has a great opportunity to reconsider the age at which criminal offenders can be considered adults, writes Paul Spooner
By Paul Spooner
Director, Youth Advocacy Centre
When does a child become an adult? Ironically this issue has been put in the spotlight due to John Howard’s political wheeling and dealing in regards to mandatory sentencing laws in the Northern
Territory.
Raising the age at which a person in the Northern Territory is considered to be an adult from 17 to 18 is a positive step, maintaining mandatory sentencing is definitely not. Such are the
contradictions of political policy making on the run.
The events in the Northern Territory have highlighted the current situation in Queensland where 17 year olds are treated as adults before the court.
Two questions remain from the events earlier this week in regards to juvenile offenders in Queensland. What is in the best interest of young people and the community? And, what are the implications of
the change in the Northern Territory law for how the Queensland Government views and treats young offenders? Queensland and Victoria are the only states which still charge 17 year olds as adults.
To be a young person in our community has always been seen as a transition period from childhood to adulthood. A child is dependent on parents, caregivers and other significant people for the
provision of the necessities of life including love and emotional support.
As a child enters the teenage years we witness a transition from a dependence on family to a growing sense of being an individual in one’s own right. This is a time of testing the boundaries, of
recognising your place in the world and of defining oneself in relation to others. It is a time of learning about responsibilities and being supported in that process by the significant adults in a
young person’s life.
What is the age at which young people stop being an adolescent, with one foot in a child’s world and the other in an adult world? You don’t have to be a Rhodes Scholar to realise that the
accepted community standard for being considered an adult is at the point a young person attains the age of 18.
Traditionally, young people celebrate becoming an adult with family and friends on their 18th birthday. It is seen as a rite of passage. My own son will be doing just that next weekend. Nobody I know does this when they reach the age of 17.
No young Australia is allowed to be deployed into war until the age of 18 but in Queensland we have no hesitation in sending 17 year olds to face the personal traumas and battles of spending time in
an adult gaol.
A young person who is 17 cannot legally walk into a hotel and buy a beer because they are not considered old enough. Yet, when they break the law they are charged as an adult.
At the next state election no 17 year old in Queensland will be able to cast a vote to determine who will sit in our next parliament. This privilege is reserved for those people who have reached the
age of 18.
It seems quite clear that the accepted community standard for young people to be considered as an adult is the age of 18. For consistency and fairness it seems only proper that any young person under
18 should not be considered an adult when it comes to breaking the law.
The Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child has recommended that all Australian States should raise the upper age for child offenders to 18. This is in line
with the accepted definition of a child as contained in the Convention. As Australia is a signatory to this Convention it would seem only appropriate that all States should follow such a
recommendation.
The new Child Protection Act established by the current State Government defines a child as a person under 18. To maintain a difference between this Act and the Juvenile
Justice Act is clearly discriminatory and illogical.
So, what should the Queensland Government being doing about this contradictory state of affairs? Interestingly enough, the answer is very simple. It does not even require
a change in the Juvenile Justice Act. Contained within the Act covering juvenile offenders is Section 6 (1) that states:
‘The Governor in Council may, by regulation, fix a day after which a person will be a child for the purposes of this Act if the person has not turned 18 years.’
In other words, all the current parliament is required to do is regulate for the change to allow young people to be considered as juveniles until they reach the age of 18.
What will then be necessary is for the Government to fund such a change accordingly. Possibly, the Federal Government may help out in this regard. After all, they found $5 million dollars for the
Northern Territory this week.
Surely, Queensland young people deserve the same consideration.
Quite simple, really. It’s time for the Government to act.
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