Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

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SENTENCING OF JUVENILES (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) BILL 2000

Mr Speaker, I move the bill be now read a second time.

The purpose of this bill is to raise the upper age of juveniles for the purposes of the criminal justice system from 17 years to 18 years. In all jurisdictions in Australia it is generally agreed that juveniles should not have all the rights and responsibilities of adults because they do not have the same capacities as adults. The view that juveniles should be treated in a manner consisted with their age and level of maturity has led to the creation of a separate juvenile justice system. The appropriate age for juveniles is a question that my government has considered from time to time.

Currently, for the purposes of the criminal law in the Northern Territory, a young person is treated as a juvenile until he or she turns 17. This means that juveniles who commit an offence appear before the Juvenile Court and the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act apply. If they are found guilty and it is appropriate to do so, they are sent for a period of time to a detention centre. When they turn 17 years old they are treated as adults and sentenced according to the provisions of the Sentencing Act in either the Court of Summary Jurisdiction or the Supreme Court, depending on the nature of the offence. If found guilty and it is appropriate to do so, they are sentenced to a period of time in prison.

On 10 April 2000, the Chief Minister had a meeting with the honourable John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia and among other topics he discussed the age at which a young offender should start to be treated as an adult. As I have said, this is a matter which has been under consideration by the government for some time. This decision brings the Territory into line with the majority of other Australian jurisdictions by providing that young people will be treated as juveniles until they turn 18 years of age. All states other than Victoria now adopt 18 as the cut off age.

Having made the announcement, it is important that this legislation pass through the House as soon as possible. As you may expect, there are a number of 17-year-old offenders awaiting sentence before the courts at present, who are seeking to adjourn their matters pending the passage of this legislation. It is for this reason the government will seek to have this bill dealt with on urgency. It is intended that the bill come into force on 1 June of this year.

I want to make it clear that this legislation does not in any shape or form, detract from the government’s commitment to mandatory sentencing. Mandatory sentencing remains in place. Any juvenile found guilty of a property offence, will be dealt with under mandatory sentencing.

The bill provides that those people who have already been charged with an offence, which was committed while they were 17 years of age, will now have their matters determined by the juvenile court. However, if a court has sentenced an offender for an offence which was committed when the offender was 17 years of age and it is necessary for the offender to be brought back before the court - for example, for a breach of a suspended sentence - the offender will be brought back to the court that imposed the original sentence.

For 17-year-olds who have already been dealt with under the mandatory sentencing provisions in the past, it is necessary to recalculate the number of strikes an offender may have. I use the word ‘strike’ because I think it makes it easier to understand. If a court has previously ordered a 17-year-old to serve 14 days as an adult under the mandatory sentencing regime, that is a first adult strike, and after 1 June this year the offender reoffends while still aged 17 years, the adult strike will count as a juvenile strike. This means that the offender will be sentenced, if found guilty, as a second-strike juvenile. In other words, the offender will either participate in a diversionary program, or serve 28 days in a detention centre.

For the purpose of mandatory sentencing, once a juvenile becomes an adult, previous juvenile strikes do not count when establishing the order the court must make. The offender potentially faces only a first adult strike. This will continue.

This means that if a court has ordered a 17-year-old to serve 14 days as an adult under the mandatory sentencing regime - that is, first adult strike - and after 1 June this year the offender re-offends when aged 18 years or older, he or she will still be only facing a first adult strike. The court will, of course, listen to all the evidence, including the offender’s criminal history, and may sentence the offender to more than 14 days.

Any offender who is charged with a property offence committed at age 17 may elect to have the matter dealt with under the Sentencing Act as if the person were 18 years old when the offence was committed. This clause only applies to offences committed before 1 June 2000, but does permit a small group of offenders to elect to possibly face 14 days in jail rather than 28 days in a detention centre.

This bill introduces an appropriate change to the system of juvenile justice in the Northern Territory, and I commend it to honourable members.

Mr STIRLING (Nhulunbuy): Mr Speaker, it is clear the opposition will be asked to support urgency on this bill. I ask the government to see its way clear to getting a copy of the second-reading speech over to us before it comes into the House, presumably on Thursday, for debate.

Debate adjourned.

 

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