Sweden’s parliament has voted to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 14 for the most serious offences. Researchers in Australia warn that punishing children earlier may not reduce crime.
The Riksdag approved a package of measures for young offenders on Thursday by 281 votes to 66, DR reports. The package includes lowering the criminal responsibility age from 15 to 14 for the gravest crimes.
DR presents Australia as a comparison, where the threshold in most of the country is 10 years. Faith Gordon, a law lecturer at the Australian National University, told DR Nyheder that Sweden can learn from Australia rather than repeat its mistakes. Per Gordon, research and international standards point toward keeping children out of the criminal system for as long as possible.
The age varies sharply across Australia. In Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, children can generally only be held responsible from age 14. It remains 10 in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, and in federal law.
A threshold of 10 does not mean every child of that age can be convicted. For children aged 10 to 13, the doctrine of doli incapax applies, and prosecutors must prove the child understood the act was seriously wrong, The Guardian has reported.
The Northern Territory raised the age from 10 to 12 in August 2023, then lowered it back to 10 in October 2024. Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro defended the change as a way to intervene earlier and steer children away from the courts, according to ABC. The territory’s then-children’s commissioner, Shahleena Musk, warned the same broadcaster that the change could keep vulnerable children stuck in the system.
DR notes the effect is hard to isolate. The lower age took effect alongside stricter bail rules and expanded police powers, and the 12-year threshold lasted only about 14 months.
Queensland introduced its “adult crime, adult time” principle in December 2024, allowing adult sentences for certain serious offences. The scheme initially covered 13 offences and had been expanded to 45 by April this year, including homicide, rape and armed robbery. Youth justice minister Laura Gerber said in April that government figures showed a 27 percent drop in offences covered by the scheme, while ABC noted youth crime had already begun falling before the law took effect.
In Victoria, the independent Sentencing Advisory Council followed more than 5,000 children and young people sentenced in the state’s children’s court in 2008 and 2009. Among those first sentenced between ages 10 and 12, 86 percent were convicted of new crimes within six years. Fiona Allison, a lecturer at the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, told DR that children drawn into the courts are far more likely to end up in prison as adults.
The burden falls unevenly. On an average day in 2024-25, 453 First Nations children and young people aged 10 to 17 were in detention, or 62 percent of all detained 10 to 17-year-olds, according to figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare cited by DR. Allison points to ethnic profiling by police and systemic racism in the justice system, including bail decisions where children lack housing deemed suitable.
