“Inhumane” treatment of young Victorians will come back to bite the community, experts warn

Victorian children 14 years and older will face adult jail time and possible life sentences under new Allan government reforms dubbed "Adult Time for Violent Crime".

The proposed legislation has drawn criticism from a range of experts and advocacy groups who say the new laws avoid rehabilitating children and could exacerbate crime rates.

What happened: Last week, Victorian premier Jacinta Allan announced changes to the way the state will prosecute violent crimes committed by children aged over 14.

Under the reforms children 14 and above who commit the following crimes will face trial in the adult County Court instead of the Children’s Court:

• Aggravated home invasion;

• Home invasion;

• Intentionally causing injury in circumstances of gross violence (includes machete crime);

• Recklessly causing injury in circumstances of gross violence (includes machete crime);

• Aggravated carjacking;

• Carjacking;

• Aggravated burglary (serious and repeated), and;

• Armed robbery (serious and repeated).

The maximum jail sentence that can be imposed in the Children's Court for any offence is three years.

The County Court, however, can impose jail sentences of up to 25 years for violent crimes such as aggravated home invasion.

At the policy announcement, Corrections Minister Enver Erdogan said children who received harsher sentences would begin their jail term in youth detention facilities, then be transferred to an adult prison when they turned 18.

What do experts think?

The proposed laws have been criticised by a range of experts and youth outreach groups. 

Associate Professor in Criminology and Justice studies at RMIT University, Dr Marietta Martinovic, told the Monitor the legislation would likely produce reoffenders.

🗣️ “We know that a lot of people captured by the youth justice system have suffered from trauma. They’ve experienced domestic or family violence. They're normally victims themselves of various criminal activities. We're going to put those types of children into custody for 25 years and expect them to come out prosocial and ready to live life. It's just preposterous.”

Martinovic said Australian prisons are “places that further detach young people from prosocial values, hence they exacerbate the propensity of crime upon release from these places”.

A national trend

The proposed changes are similar to reforms already implemented in the Northern Territory and Queensland. In 2024 a new Northern Territory government lowered the age of criminal responsibility to 10.

In December 2024, the Queensland government introduced similar laws to allow for adult penalties to be applied to youth crimes.

🗣️“We’re seeing this encroachment across multiple jurisdictions where young people's rights are being eroded,” Dr Kathryn Daley, Assistant Associate Dean of Social Science Research and Policy Studies at RMIT University, told the Monitor:

• “They're not old enough to be on the jury, they’re not old enough to vote, yet they can be tried as an adult and receive an adult sentence. It’s a slippery slope here.”

Multiple human rights and legal groups have criticised the legislation.

• The Human Rights Law Centre said in a statement that applying adult penalties to children “undermines Victoria’s human rights obligations, both under international law and Victoria’s own Charter of Human Rights”.

• Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights states: “A child who has been convicted of an offence must be treated in a way that is appropriate for that child's age.”

• The Federation of Community Legal Centres said the “reforms will fall disproportionately on Aboriginal children, children in out-of-home care, and children with disability - groups already overrepresented in the justice system due to systemic discrimination, disadvantage and unmet support needs”.

Martinovic said: “I think it's devastating, it's inhumane, it's just morally and ethically wrong.”

Image credit: Joel Carrett/AAP.