The Victorian Government's plans to sentence children as adults for serious offences through the 'Adult Time for Violent Crime' bill will fail to reduce crime, will fail to improve community safety, and will cause enormous harm to Victorian children, families and communities.
Justice Reform Initiative Executive Director Dr Mindy Sotiri said the proposal was an incredibly misguided and cynical piece of lawmaking that flies in the face of decades of evidence about what actually works to build community safety. It represents the same kind of "law and order" posturing that has repeatedly failed in other jurisdictions.
"Crime must be taken seriously. But rather than posturing about sending children to prison for life, the Victorian Government would do well to look at what crime prevention research actually says works," Dr Sotiri said.
"There is no evidence that locking more children up, or locking up children for longer will make the community safer."
"The proposal to sentence children in adult courts and expose them to adult penalties is completely inconsistent with what we know about child development, brain maturation, and the drivers of why children offend. These laws are a continuation of a false promise to Victorians that tough laws are the answer to keeping their communities safe when in fact the opposite is true."
"All the evidence shows that the earlier a child is imprisoned, the more likely they are to cycle in and out of the system for years to come. That's a bad result for children, for taxpayers, and for community safety."
Dr Sotiri said there is no evidence that embracing 'tough on crime' bail and sentencing reforms has worked in other jurisdictions. What we know from decades of evidence is that tougher sentences lead to higher rates of incarceration, greater offending and growing costs to taxpayers without any sustained improvement to safety.
The 'Adult Time for Violent Crime' bill will add pressure to an already overwhelmed system at an enormous cost to Victorian taxpayers and children's wellbeing – rather than investing in upstream responses that stop crime before it starts.
"This is not evidence-based policy; it is reactionary politics," Dr Sotiri said.
"Children's brains are still developing. Locking more children up, or locking children up for longer, does not address the drivers of crime. And the experience of imprisonment makes it more likely, not less likely, that someone will go on to reoffend."
The Justice Reform Initiative is calling for investment in programs that are proven to work — diversion programs, bail support, education, housing, and First Nations-led initiatives that address the causes of offending rather than managing children in expensive and ineffective prison settings.
"If our goal is fewer children committing crime the answer is not to double-down on the very approach that drives reoffending — it is to invest in what works. There are effective, community-based approaches already operating across Victoria that have strong evidence of success. What they need is proper support and scale."
"Children should be accountable for their actions, but accountability should also mean reducing the risk of harm happening again. Punitive reforms like these achieve the opposite. They harm children and communities alike."
About us:
The Initiative respectfully acknowledges and supports the current and longstanding efforts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to reduce the numbers of Indigenous people incarcerated in Australia and, importantly, the leadership role which Indigenous-led organisations continue to play on this issue. We also acknowledge the work of many other individuals and organisations seeking change, such as those focused on the rate of imprisonment for women, people with mental health issues, people with disability and others.
