Victoria’s Youth Justice Act: Major Changes and What They Mean for Young Offenders

Criminal law that governs children and young offenders is about to undergo a significant change in Victoria. There will be a new law, likely formally beginning in 2025, called the Youth Justice Act which will replace the current law overseeing criminal law for children.

This new law will impact young people in a number of ways, importantly both before and after a child is charged with a criminal offence.

These include:

• New legislated powers for police to caution or divert young people without having to charge them;
• Raising the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years old;
• New framework for sentencing young offenders;
• Additional powers of the Court to impose bail conditions – including electronic monitoring through ankle bracelets.

The act itself is very long and complex (it’s over 940 pages!) and while I won’t touch on everything here, I am going to highlight some of the major changes, namely the newly codified powers of police involvement prior to laying charges against the young person.

While some of these new powers and changes are positive, it has never been more important for a young person and their family to contact an expert criminal lawyer as soon as possible when police have become involved.

Police involvement prior to Court

Youth Warnings and Youth Cautions

Sections 95 and 103 of the Youth Justice Act codify the police powers to issue warnings and cautions to young people prior to being charged. This will give young people the opportunity to avoid the criminal process, avoid needing to come to court, and to maintain a clean criminal record. While youth warnings and cautions are recorded for future police purposes, they are not recorded on your criminal record and will not show up on any police checks by future employers.

Warnings and cautions can be given where young people are eligible (the eligibility criteria is contained within the act) and there are no caps on the amount of warnings or cautions that can be received by a single young person. These are often completed through brief, formal meeting with the police (often at a police station) and with a support person present.

This is a welcome change, and will provide many young people and their families an opportunity to avoid the stress and pressures associated with Court.

Early Diversion Group Conferences

A further power afforded by the new Act is the ability for police to refer young people to an Early Diversion Group Conference.

These Group Conferences will be convened by an independent organisation, and is a restorative conference that includes the following parties;

• The young person;
• Their legal representative;
• The referring police officer;
• Parent, family member or carer of the child.

These conferences are designed to promote a safe, supportive and solution focused process and promote community safety while also allowing young people to avoid further contact with the criminal justice system.

Once the conference and its objectives are finalised, then the matters are discharged and, similar to a youth warning/caution, will not show up on a criminal record.

Concerns

While the above changes are a welcome addition to the youth law landscape, they do raise some concerns about the interaction between young people, their parents/carers and the police.

By expanding police powers prior to laying charges and attending court, it means that the police will often have significant involvement with a young person and their family before they have the chance to speak to a criminal lawyer. This can cause issues where cautions/warnings are given unnecessarily, possibly precluding their use in the future. It also may have an impact on future engagements and go to questions of doli incapax.

So while there will be a temptation for young people and their parents to simply want potential police involvement to end at the earliest possible opportunity, there may be consequences in the future that can, and should, be avoided. It is not sufficient to simply listen to the police, you should contact an expert criminal lawyer as soon as you possibly can.

Conclusion

The new Youth Justice Act promises a significant change for children’s law in Victoria. While many of these changes are positive, there is undoubtedly going to be pressure points throughout the implementation that risk causing adverse outcomes for young people.

It is very important to speak to a lawyer if you have any concerns about yourself or a family member, and ensure that the lawyer is a criminal law specialist, who is across these sweeping changes.

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