Kids Need Better. Right now in Victoria, a 12-year-old can be arrested, charged, and locked up. Once inside, children are being subjected to practices that can amount to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment – including solitary confinement and the use of force.
The UN says the minimum age of criminal responsibility should be 14, with no exceptions. Victoria stops at 12, falling short of the human rights standards Australia has committed to.
It’s not just harmful. It’s staggeringly expensive.
Locking up a child in Victoria costs more than $2.6 million a year – money that could instead go toward the kind of community-based, culturally appropriate support that actually keeps kids safe and out of the justice system.
Across Victoria, people are already writing directly to the Attorney-General to demand real action. Now it’s your turn to add your voice.
