SRWA, WAJA publish Pilot Project in official Raise the Age report

WAJA is excited to publicise our Pilot Project: Raise the Age. You can read it here.

The 2020 Pilot Project was in partnership with Social Reinvestment WA (SRWA), supervised by Sophie Stewart and Reginald Ramos of SRWA and mentored by Samantha Nadilo (Barrister, Fourth Floor Chambers). WAJA Policy Analysts Helena Trang, Tenille Lazenby, Georgina Clarke and Tom Penglis conducted in-depth research over 13 weeks to create an evidence-based, WA-focussed discussion paper and accompanying communication piece for SWRA to help inform their ‘Raise the Age’ campaign.

The Pilot Project focussed on the social injustice of WA’s current minimum age of criminal responsibility. Children as young as 10 years old are currently being locked up in detention. In July 2020, the Council of Attorneys-General decided to keep the age of criminal responsibility at 10 years old until alternative ways to deal with juvenile offenders are identified. These alternatives were a core focus of the Pilot Project. The Project Team produced a comprehensive piece of research with the purpose of informing, educating and convincing the public and policymakers of not only why WA should raise the age but also how we may do so. This involved a thorough analysis of sentencing alternatives that exist regionally, nationally, and abroad.

As campaigning on raising the age continues, WAJA's research underpins SRWA's official policy paper on the issue and helps inform their future campaigning strategies. SRWA's paper will stand alongside the organisation's broader Youth Justice Report. The comprehensive report will examine how WA's legal system negatively impacts young people and will support an approach of justice reinvestment to address the causes of youth offending and reduce crime rates.

This semester, WAJA is conducting two new projects. Read more about them here.