MEMBER for Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan and NSW Nationals leader Dugald Saunders have welcomed news doli incapax in NSW is set for review.

Doli incapax is a common law legal presumption that children between the ages of 10 and 14 do not sufficiently understand the difference between right and wrong and therefore cannot be held criminally responsible in New South Wales.

It means the police prosecution is required to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the child, at the time of doing the act, knew it was seriously wrong as a matter of morality, or according to the ordinary principles of reasonable persons and not merely naughty or mischievous.

NSW Attorney General Michael Daley announced on Tuesday a review into doli incapax would be conducted by former Supreme Court Justice, the Honourable Geoffrey Bellew SC, and former NSW Police Deputy Commissioner, Mr Jeffrey Loy.

The review comes after the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) released a report which found there’s been a significant decline in the number of people aged 10 to 13-years-old found guilty after they are charged with a criminal offence.

Mr Moylan has been urging the NSW Government to conduct a review into doli incapax laws since joining Parliament in 2024 to ensure the community is protected but also to ensure young offenders are not simply released by the Courts without any intervention or assistance to stop them sliding into a cycle of crime.

“Our communities in regional and rural NSW are exhausted by serious crimes committed by young people,” Mr Moylan said.

“The continual reliance by offenders on the doctrine of doli incapax hurts our communities, frustrates our police, and ultimately hurts young offenders as it contributes to a continuous cycle of reoffending.

“The review into doli incapax has been a long-time coming and is a constructive step to address the ongoing issue of youth crime.

“Hopefully it leads to meaningful reform to keep our communities safe and to stop the cycle of young people re-offending,” he said.

Member for Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan and NSW Nationals leader Dugald Saunders have welcomed the review into Doli incapax.

NSW Nationals leader Dugald Saunders said the review is something the NSW Nationals has been pushing for to help make a difference in the regional youth crime crisis.

“This epidemic has been plaguing our communities as they are constantly held to ransom by serious repeat youth offenders,” Mr Saunders said.

“The changes made by the Minns Government have so far failed to make a tangible difference and things have been getting progressively worse over the past two years.

“We have always said more needs to be done in this space to ensure repeat young offenders aren’t simply given a free ride by claiming they don’t know what they are doing is wrong.

“Police are fed up with the revolving door where kids are constantly bailed back into inappropriate situations and our regional community members are fed up, too,” Mr Saunders said.

“We’ve brought forward a Coalition bail bill that will form part of the solution and we have pushed for doli incapax to be looked at separately as it is an extremely complex part of the legal system.

“It feels like it has taken the Government a long time to get on board with this, but I am hopeful this step will allow us to get onto a pathway to find real solutions.

It should include looking at other jurisdictions like Switzerland and the UK to see how solutions are being found in other parts of the world, and I look forward to seeing what comes of the review,” he said.