Commons justice committee calls for review of age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales

The Commons Justice Committee has called on the government to review the age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales.

In its report Children and Young People in Custody (Part 1): Entry into the youth justice system, published last week, the committee says:

The age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is a contentious issue with substantial arguments in favour both of the status quo age of 10 and an increase in that age. We are not persuaded that it should be immediately increased, but given the arguments in favour of raising it and the fact that the age in England and Wales is lower than in broadly comparable countries, we consider there is a case for reviewing the age of criminal responsibility.

We recommend that the Ministry review the age of criminal responsibility, considering the data available from Scotland and from broadly comparable European and other jurisdictions in which the age is higher than 10 at which it stands in England and Wales. 

We recommend that the Ministry report on the implications of raising the age in England and Wales to 12 and to 14, including the likely effect on reducing the number of children in custody and alternative methods of disposing of children beneath those ages who have committed serious offences. 

We recommend that if it concludes that 10 should remain the age of criminal responsibility, the Ministry set out the evidence and reasoning to justify an approach the Minister of State recognises as one that differs from the average.

As the Guardian says, the committee also draws attention to the fact that a disproportionate number of children in custody are from a minority ethnic background.

Our low age of criminal responsibility, and in particular the practice of trying children facing serious charges in adult courts, was dramatised in the BBC2 play Responsible Child, shown just before Christmas last year.

Both Responsible Child and its young lead Billy Barratt have been shortlisted for International Emmys. In the video above one of its producers, Karen Wilson, talks about the making of the play.