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The 17 Year Old Issue

Did you know that seventeen year old children
– who by law are not allowed to buy cigarettes,
to get married, or to vote –
are nevertheless tried as adults in the
Queensland criminal legal system?

Queensland is the only state in Australia to treat
seventeen year olds as adults in court.

This is inconsistent with the United Nations Declaration
on the Rights of the Child.

“Subjecting seventeen year olds to adult justice lies outside the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which Australia had ratified in 1990; in this respect, Queensland breaches the Convention.”

Helen Gregory, ‘Giving Youth a Voice’, page 51

For fourteen years the Youth Advocacy Centre and other legal and juvenile justice services such as Logan Youth Legal Service, Youth Affairs Network of Queensland and Legal Aid Queensland have been campaigning against the treatment of seventeen year old children as adults within the criminal law system in Queensland.

The Juvenile Justice Act (Qld) 1992 (the JJA) was assented to on 25 August 1992 with a vision to subsequently extend the Act to cover seventeen year olds. Section 6(1) of the JJA was drafted to make this extension as simple a process as possible – using regulation, rather than legislative amendment.

Fourteen years on, the requisite regulation has yet to be implemented.

 

There are many arguments for the treatment of seventeen year olds as children for the purposes of the criminal law, including:

Recognition of the Development Vulnerability of Children
According to the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child, 1959, Preamble, many seventeen year old children are still “physically and mentally immature”.

Alignment of Age of Adulthood in Queensland
It is highly desirable, from a public policy perspective, that the age at which a young person is dealt with as an adult by the criminal system, is aligned with the age at which it is lawful for a person to vote, drink alcohol, marry without parents’ consent, and participate fully in society in other ways.

Consistent Treatment of Peers in Queensland
A great many 17 year old Grade 12 students in Queensland are currently treated as adults by the criminal justice system, while some of their 16 year old classmates are dealt with as children. The effect of this is that two classmates, one 16 and the other 17, involved in the same offending behaviour will be treated differently, despite their circumstances being equivalent in every other respect.

Alignment of Child Safety and Juvenile Justice Systems
It is desirable that there be alignment between the child safety system and the youth justice system in relation to who those systems regard as children, and how those two systems interact.

Removal of Seventeen Year Olds from Adult Jails
According to Judge O’Brien, President of the Children’s Court of Queensland – seventeen year old children imprisoned in adult jails are exposed to potentially dangerous environments and to the negative influence of ‘seasoned, mature offenders’.

Consistency Across Australian Jurisdictions
It is desirable that there be consistency between Australian jurisdictions. Increasing the age in Queensland would remove the injustice that currently sees a 17 year old who would be charged, tried and possibly detained as an adult in Coolangatta (Qld), dealt with as a juvenile several metres away across the border in Tweed Heads (NSW).

Consistency with UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Current Queensland practice is not consistent with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Queensland practice should be brought into line
with the provisions of CROC.