The Age of Accountability

Twelve-year-olds should be accountable - top youth judge - 16 Feb 2007 - National - with the age of consent at 16, driving at 15, and alcohol at 18 - a judge proposes the lowering of the bar for the age of criminal responsibility from 14 year to 12 years. P use in lower socioeconomic families and exposure of children to P manufacture and distrubution enterprises by criminal families certainly make this seem like a good idea. The CYFS (Child Youth and Family) system acts as a buffer between troubled families and the justice system. Some say it does not operate all that well. Some say that it does.

The problem with CYFS and youth justice is that there is no handbook that tells you how to deal with a criminal 12 year old. "Its the parents!" you hear that one on talkback all the time. It is not always the parents - sometimes it is the child acting out criminality based on cultural norms expected by their contemporaries and drug use amoungst teenagers is a case in point. There is much right wing uproar about moral issues - but it is the formation of stable families that promote traditional values that is the task these moralists fail to address - it is all great to criticise those who are behind in the wealth stakes - but what about criminal children who are wealthy? Should they get the same protection from the law as 12 and 13 year old taggers, vandals and miscreants?

This is the start of a very dangerous trend. 12 year olds are afforded education. 17 year olds are afforded justice. If by the age of 17 the education does not work, then personal responsibility can be enforced upon the young adult. But at 12 years old, there is no hope that the child can gain in adult responsibility, even if they are playing with guns and drugs.

The CYFS system is not perfect but it is better than jailing 12 year olds. The judiciary could make CYFS into a political football, but a clear coherent policy that gradually improves the situation for our young people may do better. CYFS is a good idea. It is a large organisation and does have a variety of strengths and weaknesses.

But it is corrective in nature. We should also examine schools to see why they are not equiping children with the tools of a good education so they do not turn to drugs or crime as source of sustenance when they grow up.