Across Australia children as young as 10 can be arrested by police, charged with an offence, hauled before a court and locked away in youth prisons. We’re one of the only western countries that do that. Today Australian lawmakers will have a historic chance to change that. The Council of Attorneys-General will be looking at raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years in line with UN standards. 

 

On today’s episode we hear the deeply moving story of Keenan Mundine who was first locked up at 14 and then spent 15 years in an out of prison. He is part of the campaign to raise the age, and runs an organisation called Deadly Connections. Roxanne Moore is a Noongar woman and human rights lawyer and is helping drive the #RaiseTheAge campaign.

 

In today's news headlines:

• “Anti-maskers” slammed by government, business
• Premier says Melbourne is “effectively” in stage four already
• Supreme Court blocks upcoming Sydney Black Lives Matter protest
• Majority of Australians support legal change to stop putting ten-year-olds in prison

 

In today's Briefing we ask: what is the impact of being locked up on a young person? How does going to prison at a young age normalise it if it happens in future? What does it take to break out of that system? What is a better way to deal with crime than sending children to detention? What would the impact of raising the age of criminal responsibility be? What percentage of young people who are locked up come back to prison?

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