A raft of criminal convictions handed down to children will be wiped after the Northern Territory became the first Australian jurisdiction to raise the age of criminal responsibility.
The legislation which passed the NT parliament last year came into effect on Tuesday, raising the age a child can be convicted for a crime from 10 to 12.
NT Courts said 1375 records would be expunged - with many children having more than one record - and 53 criminal matters concerning children aged between 10 and 12 currently before the courts would be discontinued.
The laws, introduced in response to the 2017 NT Royal Commission into Child Detention, are the first in the country.
Other jurisdictions including the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania are looking to raise the age to 14 and will be watching keenly, Charles Darwin University law lecturer Shelley Eder said.
"The kids that do this type of stuff are already traumatised," she told AAP on Wednesday.
"It's really kind of contrary to everything we know about kids to punish them through the criminal justice system."
The Royal Commission recommended the age be raised to 14, and NT Children's Commissioner Nicole Hucks has urged the territory government to adopt the recommendation.
Children who offend will now be diverted to rehabilitation programs, although some say those programs are chronically underfunded and unable to meet increasing demand.
Justice Reform Initiative director Mindy Sotiri said some children were not getting what they needed from the programs.
"These programs are often funded in a really piecemeal way and often for very short periods of time," she told AAP.
"We're not yet investing in the community in a way that's going to make a systemic difference when it comes to reducing our reliance on incarceration."
NT Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said the Country Liberal Party does not support raising the age, arguing the legislation creates "less consequences for crime".
"Labor has not put additional programs in place to deal with youth crime before raising the age," she told AAP.
