When a child is placed in a cell, it's already too late for them to avoid future contact with the legal system, Tasmanian Aboriginal elder and human rights advocate Rodney Dillon says.
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Mr Dillon has a long history of working with at-risk children and juvenile defenders in the state and across the country.
He is also one of a number of growing voices calling for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised from 10 years to 14 years.
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The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2019 recommended 14 years as the minimum age for criminal responsibility.
Australia's Council of Attorneys-General in July 2020 met on the issue, but postponed a decision to raise the age.
A subsequent leaked draft report commissioned by the council proposed to alternatives to a blanket age increase, such as increasing the age to 14, with exceptions for serious crimes, or raising the threshold of criminal responsibility to 12 and detention age to 14.
Mr Dillon said described the juvenile detention system as the TAFE of prison.
"It does nothing to encourage kids to be better children," he said.
"We know that kids that get in this system never get out of it and it's hurting communities all over Australia.
"Bad things happen to kids when they are kept in detention and when they come out they are mentally strained for the rest of their lives."
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The Royal Australasian College of Physicians supports raising the age, arguing children's brains are developing in early adolescence - particularly the parts related to impulse control and judgement.
Law Society of Tasmania president Trevor McKenna said the age should be raised to 14 years as this was consistent with the median age of criminal responsibility internationally.
"The current age of criminal responsibility sits at odds with medical evidence, human rights law and international standards," he said.
The issue was debated at the University of Tasmania's Island of Ideas lecture series earlier this year.
Former chief magistrate Michael Hill told the public lecture children that engaged with the youth justice system while under the age of 14 would most likely remain in the criminal justice system for a significant amount of time as an adult.
He said motivating factors for criminal behaviour amongst this age cohort were homelessness, truancy, lack of family stability, experimentation and peer pressure, and mental health issues. "The motivation of offending at that age are many welfare issues, they're not necessarily criminal issues," Mr Hill said.
"Youngsters will offend by literally stealing food so they can eat if they've got no money and nobody to feed them.
"They will sleep in the back of other people's houses because they have no other place to stay and then they are charged with trespass."
Clinical psychologist Georgina O'Donnell said in severe cases of criminal offences, involving interpersonal or sexual violence, courts needed to weigh up protection of the child against community safety.
She highlighted the 1993 murder of James Bulger by two 10-year-olds as an international example which considered this factor.
"It showed through the details of that two 10-year-old boys were able to plan a crime of such a nature, prepare themselves, and acquire materials to carry out what they did over quite a prolonged period of time," Dr O'Donnell said.
"Those cases fortunately are absolutely a rarity, but we still have to cater for those children in our legislation and system supports.
"I'm certainly supportive of changing the legislation, but we have quite a lot of work ahead of us in Tasmania to provide children with forensically oriented interventions that are helpful to manage risk."
A paper by Tasmania's Children's Commissioner Leanne McLean in February stated Tasmania Police had opened files on 197 children in the 10 to 13 year age range in 2018-19.
This was 0.73 per cent of the population in Tasmania of children in that age range.
She said over that time, 22 children aged between 10 and 13 were under community-based supervision, and only six were in detention.
A Communities Tasmania spokesperson this week said two young people aged under 14 have been sentenced to detention over the past five years.
They said the most recent occurrence was more than three years ago in 2017-18.
"Both these young people were aged 13," they said.
"A further 17 have been held temporarily in unsentenced detention while awaiting bail or the outcome of their court matter.
"The number of instances of detention has reduced from six in 2016-17 to three in 2020-21."
Questions were put to Attorney-General Elise Archer's office this week, asking whether she supported lifting the age of criminal responsibility.
A government spokesperson said work was continuing nationally on raising the legal age. "While Tasmania would prefer a nationally consistent position on any reform in this area, the Attorney-General is continuing to consult with stakeholders as she further considers this issue for Tasmania," they said.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
