Raising age of criminal responsibility from 12 to 14 ‘unacceptable’ but ‘better than nothing’

Description

Raising the age of criminal responsibility appears to be firming on the radar of governments as they look at reducing the rates of Indigenous Australians being imprisoned.

This report - which was commissioned by the attorneys-general - is yet to be publicly released, but The Australian newspaper says it also offers an option of raising the minimum age to 14, with exceptions for serious crimes.

Rebecca Wickes is an associate professor in criminology at Monash University and says it needs to go even further. She spoke to NewsRadio's Gavin Coote.