On Monday, 14th February 2022, Parliament’s Community Support and Services Committee will be conducting a public hearing on the Criminal Law (Raising the Age of Responsibility) Amendment Bill 2021 introduced into the Queensland Parliament by Mr Michael Berkman MP, Member for Maiwar. As noted in our 25 January 2022 edition of eNews, of the 76 written submissions to the Committee, 75 supported the age of criminal responsibility being raised. As one submission was lodged ‘confidentially’, the position stated within this submission is not known. PeakCare concluded our own submission with this statement:
PeakCare strongly encourages the Committee when considering the proposed Bill to look at the overwhelming evidence which supports the age being raised to 14 and the paucity of credible evidence supporting it being retained at 10. If the Committee does recommend the age of criminal responsibility be retained at its current level, we respectfully ask that the Committee in its report to Parliament details the contemporary peer-reviewed evidence used to inform this position as we have not been able to find any.
PeakCare views this as responsibility that should be shared by all members of the Committee irrespective of the political party to which they belong. To view the program for the public hearing, click here.