Worth A Second Chance

Almost everywhere in Australia, children as young as 10 can be arrested, charged, and imprisoned. Email your MP asking them to #RaiseTheAge of criminal responsibility to keep young children out of prisons and in schools, playgrounds and communities – where they can be held to account for their actions and supported to reset their lives.

Almost everywhere in Australia, children as young as 10 can be arrested, charged, and imprisoned. Email your MP asking them to #RaiseTheAge of criminal responsibility to keep young children out of prisons and in schools, playgrounds and communities – where they can be held to account for their actions and supported to reset their lives.

Email Premier Jacinta Allan

68 emails sent

We're calling on Victoria as Australia's most progressive state to lead the way in responding effectively to young people in trouble.

Send a message to Premier Jacinta Allan asking her government to immediately raise the of criminal responsibility to 14, with no exceptions, in line with expert medical evidence and international human rights standards.

Where do you live?

Compose your email

Name

Email

Phone

Invalid phone number

Subject:

Dear Premier Allan and Attorney-General Symes,

I write to you as a concerned Victorian and a supporter of the Worth a Second Chance campaign for more fair, humane and effective youth justice systems.

I'm thrilled to hear the Government's recent announcement that Victoria will move to raise the age of criminal responsibility. This is an evidence-based and compassionate reform that would make a real difference in the lives of young people on the margins.

As Australia's most progressive state, Victoria has a unique opportunity now to show strong leadership and raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years, with no exceptions. This is in line with expert medical evidence and international human rights standards.

Experts agree younger children have not developed the social, emotional and intellectual maturity necessary for legal responsibility. Simply locking up vulnerable young children, rather than addressing their behaviour, starts a cycle of incarceration that is hard to break. The earlier a child becomes caught in the justice system, the harder it is to get out.

Children who come into contact with the youth legal system are likely to have faced a tough start to life. The most effective and compassionate way to respond to these vulnerable young people isn't the isolation and harm of the prison system – it is addressing the underlying issues driving their behaviour, including family dysfunction, trauma, abuse and neglect.

In providing leadership we expect the Victorian Government to raise the age of legal responsibility to 14 years, and put in place restorative responses that work with families, schools and communities to support – rather than punish – vulnerable children.

Jesuit Social Services’ discussion paper on this topic outlines a range of practical ways in which children can be held to account for their actions in the community and supported to reset their lives through a range of welfare-based responses to offending behaviour: https://jss.org.au/articles/raising-the-age-of-criminal-responsibility-there-is-a-better-way/

All children are worth a second chance – which is why I call on the Victorian Government to raise the age of criminal responsibility, to give young people the opportunity to flourish.

How we use the data you enter on this form

Do Gooder (the advocacy platform powering this online action) processes personal information from you that you enter on this form so that we can provide the functions and related services to you and The Campaigner (the organisation responsible for this online action) for their legitimate purposes, including possibly exporting it to other systems, and to effectively respond to enquiries and communications related to those services.

Specifically when you enter:

Your location data (residential address or postcode) it is used to locate your elected representative, to pre-populate your email signature and to provide The Campaigner with a visualisation of the location of the support for this campaign.
All other data you may enter, including your email address, name, telephone number, commentary and so on is used by The Campaigner to advocate for the campaign’s goals and where required may be sent to the target of the campaign.

The data collected by Do Gooder is also used by us in aggregate form to improve the service and may be held on your behalf outside your country of residence by our third party service providers. These providers are bound by contract to only use personal information on our behalf, in accordance with agreed terms. While the privacy laws of the country in which personal information is stored or transferred may be different from those in your country, we will always have safeguards in place when storing or transferring personal information. We will never sell, rent, loan or in any other way pass your information on to other parties other than to provide this service to you and The Campaigner.

The personal information collected by Do Gooder is held subject to a Data Processing Agreement between Do Gooder and The Campaigner in compliance with the EU's GDPR and Australian law.

Learn more about our privacy policy here

How is my data used?