Using a trauma-informed practice framework to operationalise the #raisetheage campaign

#raisetheage is a campaign by a ‘coalition of legal, medical and social justice organisations’ in Australia that aims to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 years (Raise the Age, n.d). The #raisetheage campaign aims to reduce the number of children who are criminalised, reduce the number of children who are detained in custody and break the continuum of involvement between child protection, youth justice and the adult justice systems. The #raisetheage campaign is almost universally supported in principle with most opposition focused on the challenges of implementation, to keep children and the community safe. The SAMHSA (2014) 4Rs model, a trauma-informed practice framework, can assist the #raisetheage campaign by providing a way forward. Most children caught up in the youth justice system have been exposed to multiple and chronic adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), resulting in trauma. Trauma is the deleterious impact of adversity on a person’s social and emotional wellbeing and may be exacerbated when children are criminalised and locked up. This paper argues that using trauma-informed practice can operationalise the aims of the #raisetheage campaign by reducing developmental trauma, youth crime and the incarceration of children.