When governments resort to ‘adult crime, adult time’ sentencing, they are shifting the blame onto children for the failure of adults to come to grips with the necessary policies and programs to tackle youth crime.

Juvenile crime is a very complex issue. It calls for a sophisticated suite of measures to reduce its incidence and to rehabilitate the perpetrators.

But too many of our leaders are focused on reactionary politics rather than the underlying problems. Whenever elections near they opt for simple punitive fixes designed to snuff out the public disquiet rather than deliver long-term safety for their communities.

This populist attitude is spreading across the country. The Queensland Government has revised its Youth Justice Act and skewed its provisions to be incompatible with human rights. The Northern Territory Government has lowered the age of criminal responsibility to children aged 10. So it was no surprise that the Victorian Government caved into media and political pressure last week when it announced its ‘ adult time for violent crime’ laws. This could see children as young as 14 sentenced to life in prison.

The irony of these measures is breathtaking.

The new laws will cover eight specific offences, including home invasion and carjacking. Five of the eight offences will be........

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