On 1 August 2023, the NT became the first Australian jurisdiction to raise the age of criminal liability from the previous minimum age of 10. The minimum age of criminal responsibility in the Northern Territory is now 12. This is a commendable first step, but the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended 14 years as the minimum age, based on child development studies which found that children under fourteen often lack impulse control and have a low capacity to understand consequences. The earlier a child enters the justice system, the more likely they will re-offend.
Young people in custody should receive a standard of education comparable to anyone else in the education system. In many cases, incarcerated youth have higher
educational needs.
It’s a step in the right direction, but the question remains: what we are going to do with offenders between seven and twelve years old who are on our streets (and those
in Darwin, Katherine, and Tennant Creek)? They often do not have sufficiently functional families or communities to go back to. Based on hundreds of conversations in my
community, I therefore suggest replacing youth detention and prison sentences for those under 25 with “Nosirps” for de-escalation, learning and healing: a place where all
services for offenders’ complex needs are amalgamated under one roof. This is to combat the notorious problem of the siloing of NGOs that now offer valuable services but do not reach transient kids sufficiently.
Only after we have helped heal this generation of children and young adults can we begin increasing the age of criminal responsibility in a truly meaningful way.
Prison guards should not be around vulnerable children and young adults with complex needs: they have training in security, not an education in treating trauma.
Keeping the premises locked to keep the community safe can be done with minimal intermingling of staff with offenders. The quarters of such security staff can and
should be at the periphery of the premises, as in the Ny Anstalt facility in Nuuk, Greenland.
Instead, the people who interact with the young offenders in custody should be specialists such as one-on-one mentors, doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, Aboriginal Elders and teachers, as well as family members.
When a young person is placed in custody, it is the responsibility of the state that this person is cared for adequately and that the best interest of the child is always paramount.
Raising the age needs political will, a will that is lacking amongst those that live in Alice Springs due to the youth of offenders who commit serious crimes. The obvious solution is a facility with a hard shell (making it impossible to get out) but a soft centre, where children
and young adults feel safe enough to heal and explore their dreams and talents under the leadership of trusted one-on-one mentors. This kind of hard shell/soft centre resembles a lychee fruit. Let us call it the Lychee Model.
Many people, from real estate agents to restaurant owners, have suggested such a model during my endless talks over the past two years. It is one that many people come up with
when they give serious thought to the problem. I generally spoke with people for an hour to an hour and a half, often over lunch. When the first emotional responses of anger and sadness had subsided, this is what most people came up with, irrespective of their cultural background. Many, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, agreed that Aboriginal leadership within such a Nosirp would be a prerequisite.
Ny Anstalt, Nuuk, Greenland.
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