Age of Criminal Responsibility
(1 day, 10 hours ago)
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Baroness Chakrabarti
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Baroness Levitt) (Lab)
My Lords, the Government want to prevent children who have committed crime from re-offending and to help them lead happy, useful and productive lives. Setting the age of criminal responsibility at 10 allows the justice system to intervene early with some children, which can help to prevent future crimes. Children are treated differently in that they are dealt with by youth courts and given different sentences from adult offenders.
Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab)
I am grateful, as always, to my noble friend, but wonder whether the child welfare system would not be more appropriate than the justice system for 10 year-olds. How does the Government’s position square with international comparators, UN advice, modern neuroscience and humane values?
Baroness Levitt (Lab)
With the greatest respect to my noble friend, that is quite a lot of questions in one. I can confirm that the UK complies with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Making international comparisons in this area can be imprecise, and some of our international partners are lowering their age of criminal responsibility. For example, Sweden is proposing to reduce its from 15 in response to an increase in gangs recruiting children to commit serious offences precisely because they know they cannot be prosecuted. We make every effort to keep children out of the criminal justice system unless it is absolutely unavoidable.
Lord Meston (CB)
My Lords, have the Government made any assessment of the carefully considered change enacted in Scotland in 2019, when the minimum age was raised to 12 with the intention of protecting younger children from earlier criminalisation and exposure to the criminal justice system? Does the Scottish experience not increase confidence for similar reform in England and Wales?
Baroness Levitt (Lab)
My Lords, there are certain cases where the offending is so serious that a criminal justice response is required. For example, everybody in your Lordships’ House will remember the case of the killing of James Bulger, in which two 10 year-olds were involved. The important thing is that every effort is made to keep children out of the criminal justice system unless it is absolutely necessary to monitor them and to contain them in the public interest.
Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames (LD)
My Lords, the Government and this House take pride in pursuing evidence-led policy, yet an age of criminal responsibility of 10 flies in the face of all the evidence about brain development, general maturity, responsibility and judgment. As the noble Lord, Lord Meston, said, Scotland has raised the age to 12, and many European countries have an age of 12 or 14. Granted, the UN convention does not insist on a particular age but the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child urges states to adopt 14 as the minimum age. How can a progressive Government justify criminal responsibility for 10 year-olds?
Baroness Levitt (Lab)
My Lords, the efforts made to keep children out of the criminal justice system are all going in the right direction. In 2024, only 13% of all children sentenced were aged 10 to 14 and that is a sustained downward trend.
Baroness Berridge (Con)
My Lords, the Minister said that children are in the criminal justice system only when it is “absolutely necessary”. But at a meeting in Parliament yesterday about the jury proposals, the heads of the Criminal Bar Association and the Bar Council and the leaders of most of the circuits were clear that there are young people in the criminal justice system who are being treated too harshly and that this has a devastating effect on their lives. May I challenge the Minister to meet with those representatives, because that does not match the “absolutely necessary” wording she used?
Baroness Levitt (Lab)
I reiterate that we are moving in the right direction. Not only is the number of children sentenced aged between 10 and 14 going down, but in 2024, of the 1,687 sentences passed on 10 to 14 year-olds, only 23 resulted in custody—again, a consistent trend reduction. I am, of course, always delighted to meet with anybody who wishes to discuss these matters, but the Government are content that this is the correct way of dealing with things.
Lord Burnett of Maldon (CB)
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Meston, indicated that Scotland raised the age to 12 and the noble Lord, Lord Marks, referred to the age of criminal responsibility in most of Europe, which is a good deal higher than in England and Wales. Your Lordships might be surprised to know that in Russia it is 16, save for very serious offences, for which it is 14; and in China it is 16, save for very serious offences. Are the Government at least able to commit to look at the evidence and consider whether the time has come to raise the age of criminal responsibility?
Baroness Levitt (Lab)
The Government are always concerned about the position of children and keep all these matters constantly under review.
The Lord Bishop of Manchester
My Lords, the Minister referred a few moments ago to Sweden lowering its age below 15. I have done a quick google check, and as far as I can understand, it has lowered it to 14, which is rather different from 10. Can she confirm that that is correct?
Baroness Levitt (Lab)
I thank the right reverend Prelate. I think it is from 15 to 13.
Lord Keen of Elie (Con)
My Lords, as has already been noted, until just a few years ago, the age of criminal responsibility in Scotland was eight. In the last three or four years, it has been raised from eight to 12. Does the Minister agree that before we take any further steps with regard to the age of responsibility in England, it would be appropriate to examine and analyse the impact of the changes on policing, crime prevention and public safety in Scotland which have emerged since the change in the age of criminal responsibility there almost four years ago?
Baroness Levitt (Lab)
I say to the noble and learned Lord that the Government keep all these matters under review.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, is this not a class issue? People who live in leafy suburbs think it is a bad idea; people who live in council houses, often targeted by young people, think that, while every effort should be made to keep children out of the judicial system, there has to be that penalty if they continue with the actions they take.
Baroness Butler-Sloss (CB)
My Lords, is the Minister aware that the four Children’s Commissioners of the four parts of the United Kingdom wrote a report several years ago saying that this country is the most punitive of all European countries towards children?
Baroness Levitt (Lab)
Noble Lords will probably be interested to know, if they are not already aware, that the Code for Crown Prosecutors has the age and maturity of a defendant as a specific public interest factor tending against prosecution. There are a number of other factors in the Crown Prosecution Service’s legal guidance that point towards keeping children out of the system when that is in their best interests and when it is not necessary for a criminal prosecution to take place.
Baroness Uddin (Non-Afl)
My Lords, given the range of concerns and questions raised across the House, will the Minister and her department consider putting in the Library or otherwise providing a briefing for Members of this House about the numbers of children involved in the criminal justice system, their race, gender and class—if my noble friend insists on that—and how they affect these matters?
Baroness Levitt (Lab)
We can of course provide such statistics as we hold, although I think those on class might be a little more difficult to define than, for example, those on race and gender. It is important to recognise that there are issues relating to children from particular parts of society who are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, and the Government are extremely keen to continue the work of the previous Government to ensure that they are diverted, so that they can lead productive lives in the future.
Lord Berkeley of Knighton (CB)
My Lords, joint enterprise has given rise to a certain notoriety in the criminal justice system. Given the way that gangs of children tend to go around together, is not the age of 10 a real problem? Children of 10 can be convicted of murder simply because one teenager further up the pecking order murders someone.
Baroness Levitt (Lab)
The noble Lord refers to the law in relation to joint enterprise. The Law Commission is currently looking at all cases of murder that include joint enterprise and will report in due course. The Government will consider that very seriously because we understand entirely the point the noble Lord is making.