Rosslyn Noonan

Wellington, Sept 3 NZPA - The Human Rights Commission is calling for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 18.

The recommendation is made in a discussion paper on the rights of children and young people, including areas where New Zealand law fails to comply with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC).

At present, teenagers aged 14 and older can legally be prosecuted for most offences, with 12 years the minimum for some serious crimes, and 10 year-olds liable to be prosecuted for murder and manslaughter.

New Zealand's youngest convicted killer, Bailey Junior Kurariki was 12 when he was jailed for seven years for manslaughter over slaying of pizza delivery man Michael Choy, 40, in 2001.

Human Rights Commissioner Rosslyn Noonan said today increasing the age of criminal responsibility was not saying no action should be taken.

But research showed that if a young person made an early appearance in a criminal court, he or she ended up in and out of the system for years.

If New Zealand could deal with people's behaviour, mentor and monitor them and get them to contribute to restitution outside of the criminal system, it would get better results, she said.

One of the priorities for action identified at the end of the discussion paper was to ensure legislation reflects New Zealand's obligations under UNCROC, "including by raising the age of criminal responsibility and extending the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act protections to include all persons under the age of 18".

The way nations implement their obligations under UNCROC is monitored by a United Nations committee of experts, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which has commented negatively on the age at which a child can be charged with a serious criminal offence in New Zealand.

It has recommended this be raised to "an internationally acceptable level", but though several governments have reviewed the minimum age of criminal responsibility and prosecution, none has implemented the CRC's recommendation to raise the age.

In fact, the present Government's Children, Young Persons and their Families Amendment Act 2010 effectively lowered the age of criminal prosecution by making 12 and 13-year-olds liable to prosecution in respect of certain serious offences other than murder or manslaughter.

New Zealand's 1.05 million children (those aged 17 years or less) make up 26 percent of the population.