Tasmania has become the first jurisdiction in Australia to raise the minimum age of detention from 10 to 14 years.

It comes as part of a wider reform into the state’s youth justice system, with a greater focus on prevention and early intervention.

There are calls for other states to follow suit.

Queensland’s Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman says she will consider the minimum age of detention.

Criminologist and emeritus professor Ross Homel says it’s a welcome reform.

“It’s to do with the trauma and deep disadvantage of kids who do end up at a young age getting into trouble with the police,” he told Scott Emerson.

“Kids as young as 10, 11, 12, are seriously damaged, 31 per cent for example of those children have a parent who has been in jail or is currently in jail.

“They are also frequently victims of trauma and assault, child maltreatment, domestic violence, and generally chaotic and violent home environments that’s the reality.

“Detention is the worst possible way of dealing with the needs of those young people and preventing them or getting them off to a path that doesn’t involve future offending.”

He says detention won’t stop re-offending and Tasmania has “taken the lead” in the area.

“The way to deal with it is to deal with the causes of the offending, that is the brutal reality … detention doesn’t do that.”

Press PLAY below to hear his insights and response to the reform

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