Garth McVicar: Consider all the facts and ramifications of raising the Youth Court age

Garth McVicar

I find it disingenuous that at a time when there is a push to raise the age of the Youth Court based on so-called research that a young person's brain is not fully developed until age 25 while others [including some in the media] are suggesting lowering the voting age to 16.

Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft is leading the charge to raise the age of the Youth Court, relying heavily on a study produced by the Brain Wave Trust that states a young person's brain is under construction from age 8 to around mid-20s.

Is it just me or are some of the ideologues pushing these agendas guilty of doing so for ideological reasons rather than considering all the facts and possible ramifications and unintended consequences?

As I see it these are the issues in a nutshell:

1) A 16-year-old can legally have sex, give birth, get married, drive a car, own a firearm, be a prostitute and have an abortion, the list goes on.

2) The same young person who is deemed old enough by law to do all the above and yet the "research" says they are not old enough to be judged and tried as an adult.

3) Similar so-called "evidence" was produced to support lowering the drinking age. I am sure I don't need to remind the public of the disastrous outcome from that debacle. Indeed Judge Becroft himself would have dealt with many young people who became offenders and went on to become career criminals as a result of lowering the drinking age.

4) If indeed the frontal cortex isn't fully developed until around the age of 25, as the so-called "evidence" states, then surely society must be obliged to also remedy all other inconsistencies.

5) Surely if those who are campaigning to raise the age of the Youth Court are genuine then they must be obliged to also campaign to rectify all the other anomalies that have decreed a youth at 16 is old enough to be responsible and accountable for many important decisions that can affect their own life and the lives and wellbeing of many others as well.

It seems that many of the organisations and individuals supporting and/or promoting increasing the age of the Youth Court are doing so for ideological reasons rather than considering all the facts and possible ramifications and unintended consequences.

We have seen many other Bills and legislative changes supported by similar ideology with disastrous ongoing results that is now having a detrimental effect on society as well as overall crime rates and prison population.

Garth McVicar is the founder of the Sensible Sentencing Trust.