Victoria Unveils Knife Crime Crackdown, 'Adult Time for Violent Crime' Laws
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Victoria will introduce legislation before Parliament rises this year imposing tougher penalties for knife crimes and implementing “adult time for violent crime” provisions that allow youth offenders to be sentenced for both juvenile and adult offenses simultaneously, Premier Jacinta Allan announced Monday in response to what she characterized as community demands for stronger consequences.
Allan revealed the legislative package during a joint appearance with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Melbourne, positioning the reforms as direct response to crime victims who have expressed frustration about insufficient penalties for violent youth offending.
“This strengthens and toughens the consequences for people who engage in this brazen and violent offending,” Allan said, describing the measures as addressing repeated community concerns.
The legislation would allow courts to sentence youth offenders as both juveniles and adults for the same violent crime, effectively imposing dual penalties rather than requiring prosecutors to choose between juvenile and adult systems.
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“It comes as a result of listening very clearly to too many victims of crime who have said there needs to be more consequences, that there’s not enough consequences,” Allan said.
The Premier emphasized that Parliament would receive the legislation before completing its current sitting year, establishing tight timeline for passage of the youth justice reforms.
“We will be bringing legislation to the parliament before the end of this parliamentary sitting year, not only to introduce adult time for violent crime, but also to strengthen the sentencing around these knife crimes,” she said.
Allan characterized the legislative response as necessary because crime victims have consistently reported that current penalties fail to adequately address serious violent offending by young people.
“We need these laws because victims of crime have said very clearly that there’s not enough consequences for this brazen, violent offending that is causing both harm and concern in the community,” she said.
The announcement comes amid controversy over youth offenders from the corrections system reportedly being taken to Gold Coast theme parks, though Allan clarified that youth justice officials were not involved in those specific incidents.
“I want to be clear that in this matter that has been reported today, that there has been, I’m advised, that there has been no youth justice officials involved in accompanying these young people,” Allan said.
She noted the decision came through the corrections process rather than youth justice system, declining to comment on circumstances that led to the theme park visits.
“Given that this was a decision that’s been taken through the corrections process, I’m not in a position to comment in the circumstances that led to this decision,” Allan said.
The Premier emphasized that youth justice funding does not support recreational trips for offenders, contrasting system priorities with the reported theme park visits.
“I want to make it really clear the youth justice system is not funding these sorts of trips or engagement,” she said. “What we’re focused on here in Victoria is make it very clear that there is consequences for offending.”
However, Allan acknowledged that tougher penalties alone cannot address youth crime patterns, emphasizing that Victoria Police analysis indicates new offending types require new intervention approaches.
“We also know that there needs to be more to be done to support young kids to get away from this behaviour in the first place,” she said. “This is what Victoria Police are telling us, that this is a new kind of offending that constantly requires new interventions.”
The Premier indicated the government would announce additional intervention programs alongside the sentencing reforms, building on existing initiatives connecting youth to employment, education, and family support.
“Alongside strengthening of the consequences, whether it’s the knife crimes that we’re announcing today, the adult time for violent crime, we’ll also be having more to say about further work that needs to be done on the interventions,” Allan said.
She referenced current Victorian programs providing free TAFE access and school connection support as examples of preventive approaches that complement tougher criminal penalties.
“We’re already doing in making sure that there are opportunities for more young kids to get access to TAFE through free TAFE, keeping them connected to schools and families through interventions that we make in those settings,” Allan said.
The Premier acknowledged that additional intervention development remains necessary based on input from Victoria Police, crime victims, and formerly incarcerated youth about what programs effectively prevent criminal behavior.
“We know there is more to be done around looking at new interventions to support kids and part of that is making sure that they remain connected to their community,” she said.
Allan linked youth crime prevention to organized crime recruitment patterns, referencing legislation passed last week increasing penalties for gang leaders who target young people for criminal enterprises.
“When we announced last week the increased penalties for those evil gang leaders, organised crime leaders who recruit kids, actively target kids and recruit them to a life of crime, Police tell us, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission tells us, that they’re using technology,” she said.
The Premier described how criminal organizations use social media platforms to engage youth who are more accessible through technology than previous generations.
“They’re using the social media platforms to engage with these kids, that kids are more accessible in ways they’ve never been before,” Allan said.
She connected this recruitment pattern to the federal government’s social media ban for young people, endorsing the restriction as both Premier and parent.
“This is why the social media ban is so important,” Allan said. “It’s about getting kids to be connected again to their families and their communities, to be focused on their schoolwork, to have the opportunity to come and enjoy in any number of great sporting activities.”
The Premier acknowledged that every family navigates challenges managing children’s social media use, characterizing the federal ban as supportive policy for parents struggling with technology boundaries.
“Every parent is working through the challenges with your kids, the negotiations, the arguments that go on with your kids about how to manage social media in the home,” she said, describing the ban as welcome intervention.
The youth crime legislative package represents Victoria’s attempt to balance community demands for tougher penalties with evidence-based prevention programs targeting root causes of juvenile offending.
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