Victoria’s ‘adult time for violent crime’ reforms will not solve the youth crime problem

The Victorian government has announced a new youth justice reform package. The package is punitive in its nature, focused around an “adult time for violent crime” measure for several offences. These include aggravated home invasion, intentionally or recklessly causing injury in circumstances of gross violence, carjacking and serious and repeat aggravated burglary and armed robbery.

Children aged 14 years and over charged with these offences may face an adult court, devoid of the protections of the children’s court system. They will also be subject to significantly longer periods of imprisonment, including life imprisonment for aggravated home invasion and aggravated carjacking.

Announcing the reforms, Premier Jacinta Allan stated:

That means courts will treat these children like adults, so jail is more likely, and sentences are longer.

The reforms come following significant pressure on the Allan government from the community and media to introduce more punitive responses to youth crime.

However, these reforms violate human rights obligations, contradict evidence-based research and are expensive. They will have long-term, devastating impacts for children and young people in conflict with the law.

A national trend towards punitive responses

The proposed Victorian reforms are the latest in a string of concerning punitive youth justice reforms introduced across Australia.

Described as “Queensland flavoured”, the proposed Victorian reforms adopt many of the punitive youth justice measures introduced in late 2024 by the Queensland LNP government. This legislation introduced “adult crime, adult time”, including mandatory life sentences for children convicted of murder. It also removed the long-standing principle that detention be used only as a last resort. In the process, it limited judicial discretion by abolishing restorative justice as a sentencing option.

In the Northern Territory, a move towards punitive responses is also evident. Earlier this year, the NT Youth Justice Act also removed the principle of detention as a last resort for young offenders. It also restricted bail for some offences and reinstated the use of spit hoods in youth detention.

These are ineffective and harmful solutions, for several reasons. Punitive reforms, including in Victoria, Queensland and Northern Territory, disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children undermine rehabilitative justice principles and deliver limited benefits for community safety.

Breaching international obligations

While punitive recent youth justice reforms have been justified by politicians as responding to community safety needs, these reforms contravene the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Australia is a signatory, as well as domestic human rights legislation.

Article 37 of the convention explicitly states that the detention or imprisonment of a child should be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. The convention also mandates that sentencing must account for an offender’s young age and their need for rehabilitation and reintegration into society. The proposed Victorian reforms contravene each of these obligations.

The convention also requires that states prioritise alternative measures to detention. These include diversion programs, restorative justice initiatives, and community-based rehabilitation.

These principles reflect a global consensus that punitive approaches to youth offending are ineffective and harmful. Instead, justice responses should focus on education, support, rehabilitation, recovery and healing.

Yet recent youth justice announcements at the state and territory level have no meaningful investment in early intervention or substantive funding of rehabilitation programs for children in conflict with the law.

It won’t work. Here’s why

There’s no question some Victorians, like many other Australians, are feeling fearful after recent youth crimes. But punitive responses fail to deliver community safety, and overlook the importance of early intervention and prevention. It puts additional pressure on a youth justice system that is already failing.

Last year, former national children’s commissioner Anne Hollands concluded:

the justice system for children and young people is failing. It causes significant harm; it doesn’t work to protect the community; it makes re-offending more likely and it is incredibly expensive.

Research has consistently found that harsh sentencing laws do not deter youth crime. Instead, they can be counterproductive, often increasing the likelihood of re-offending by exposing young people to the prison system at an early age. It can also affect their connections to education, employment, and community supports.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found 51% of children aged ten to 17 whose first sentence was detention returned to sentenced supervision before they were 18.

This highlights the problematic revolving door of the youth justice system. It criminalises young people while failing to address any of the underlying reasons they have resorted to criminal behaviours, including experiences of family violence, other forms of abuse and untreated trauma.

An opportunity for leadership

Last month, the federal government announced a renewed Senate inquiry into Australia’s youth justice and detention systems.

The inquiry will focus on – among other issues – the over-incarceration of First Nations children and young people, Australia’s compliance with human rights obligations, and the creation of national minimum standards for youth justice and detention systems. Importantly, it has stated a commitment to hearing directly from young people with experience of the youth justice system.

But we do not need to wait for the inquiry findings to know that a purely punitive response to youth crime is ineffective and costly.