Should reform campaigners focus on raising awareness? (interesting paper on child criminal responsibility in Australia)
Apparently in (parts of) Australia, children as young as 10 can face criminal trial as adults. That seems instinctively super low. And indeed, around 14 is the norm.
Just read Suzanne Rock and co's article, on the efforts to raise the "minimum age of criminal responsibility" (MACR) in Western Australia.
Wanted to highlight two cool things about this paper:
First cool thing: paper's findings are very "real-world" relevant.
While we chase generalisability (and "seek universal truths"!), policy research must also equally value specificity ("in this specific country or context, what works?").
The paper's findings aren't necessarily novel, nor does it develop a theoretical concept. But it does however, fill a specific knowledge gap, to advance a specific policy challenge in Western Australia.
The policy challenge: If 14 (not 10) is the international norm for the MACR, why haven't Australian policymakers followed suit?
The paper's main argument (paraphrased):
Currently the public doesn't know about the MACR. Therefore politicians don't care either.
But, if made aware, the public will care A LOT -- and will support raising the MACR. This would in turn make politicians care.
Therefore, if campaigners want to increase the MACR from 10 (to say 14), they need to first raise awareness.
This may seem obvious, and indeed prior surveys have shown similar findings. But the paper provides qualitative evidence, that illustrates just how strongly the public may care about raising the MACR -- if they are made aware of the issue (e.g. some respondents used strong words like, the current 10 is "ludicrous").
Second cool thing: paper an excellent "learning" tool.
Besides presenting useful findings, the paper also seems a useful "example paper" for introductory learning/teaching of research, because:
The paper lays out it's methodology in detail -- including the sampling, interviews, and analysis. (So it's like a guide for new researchers.)
The methodology and subject matter isn't too complex. (So it's accessible and doesn't require much prior background.)
There are many pros and cons of the paper's methodology and approach, which the paper does address. (So it enables discussion of research methods.)
Indeed, the authors surely designed the paper with learning/teaching in mind. The paper was written as part of a criminology class -- where students learnt research methods and applied their skills through carrying out the research.
In conclusion
While the paper may not end up with the most academic citations (it might yet!); it could more than compensate through impactful real-world policy and classroom references.
