An independent review of the operation of doli incapax in New South Wales (NSW) for children under 14. Doli incapax operates as a common law presumption in NSW and presumes children aged between 10 and 13 are not able to be held criminally responsible for their actions. The report makes seven recommendations.

Across Australia, children as young as ten can be arrested, charged and detained under criminal law. This approach continues to disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. This position paper argues that raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility is a necessary shift toward justice systems that respect community-led ways of caring for children.

This report examines cases sentenced or diverted in Victoria involving offences committed by children aged 10 to 13 at their offending, including their demographics, offending profiles and sentencing outcomes. The report is intended to assist with the implementation and monitoring of measures that apply to children under 14 in the new Youth Justice Act 2024.

The number of young people aged 10 to 13 years found guilty of a criminal offence in NSW fell markedly, following the 2016 High Court of Australia decision RP v R. This paper examines if this decline can be explained by the RP v R decision which clarified the application of doli incapax.

Across Australia, governments are incarcerating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at disproportionately high rates compared to non-Indigenous children. This racial discrimination complaint, made to the United Nations, highlights Australia's' discriminatory youth justice systems and how they seriously violate the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.