A criminal law expert has praised reports Australian Attorney-General Christian Porter has signed off on an investigation into potentially raising the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility (MACR) from 10 to 16 as a "positive" step.
On Monday, The Daily Telegraph reported the attorney general and his state colleagues had signed off on an investigation into looking at raising the age of criminal responsibility in Australia.
Australian law allows children as young as 10 to be charged with a criminal offence, falling below the average MACR worldwide of 12.1 years, according to YouthPolicy.org.
Around 600 children under 14 are locked up in Australian youth cells every year.
Professor Arlie Loughlan, a criminal law professor from the University of Sydney, told SBS News she believed the investigation into raising the MACR was a good step.
“We have to remember, Australia has an age of criminal responsibility that is low for world standards - much lower than countries in the Nordic region, for example, and elsewhere. That has meant we can see the impact of the criminal justice system on people as young as 10 in Australia," she told SBS News.
Scandinavian countries including Norway, Sweden and Finland have gone above the UN stance on children’s responsibility with the MACR set at 15.
Professor Loughlan, who is also the co-director of the Institute of Criminology at the University of Sydney, said that compared to Australia's system, Nordic countries focus on "rehabilitation" rather than "punishment".
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