Barnardo’s report released today, From playground to prison, is calling for the Government to con- sider raising the minimum age of crimi- nal responsibility from 10 to 12 years old, except in cases of murder, attempted murder,
manslaughter, rape and aggravated sexual assault.
Barnardo’s chief executive and former
Barnardo’s:
Government must review age of criminal responsibility
Prosecution and conviction is necessary, even for very young children, if they commit the most serious offences.
But for other 10 and 11-year- olds there are more effective and cost-efficient ways of nipping offending in the bud, according to the UK’s largest children’s charity.
8 Oc t obe r 2 0 1 0 K i x Ma g
director general of the prison service Martin Narey said: “It is crucial that those 10 and 11-year-olds who commit the most grave crimes are taken to court.
“Yet there is nothing to be gained from criminalising very young children for less serious offences and putting them through a court process they can barely fathom.
“In fact the repercussions are a heightened chance of further offending, more victims and unnecessary cost to the tax- payer.
“This is not to suggest that these children should not face up to the consequences of their bad behaviour; there are a range of meaningful and effective interventions, involving the whole family, which can and should be employed.”
There were 5,671 children aged 10 and 11 given a youth justice disposal in 2008 - only three of those children committed a crime serious enough to see them locked up. The vast majority, 5,007, were given a reprimand or final warning.
More than 650 children aged 11 and under were convicted and sentenced in the courts for crimes not serious enough to warrant custody. Of those, almost half were sentenced for the less serious summary offences and only 41 were sentenced for violence against the person offences.
But despite these children committing low level crimes, once they enter the criminal justice system re-offending rates can be high - 45 per cent for those receiving a first tier penalty such as a referral order, 68 per cent for those given a
community order and 74 per cent for those sentenced to custody.
And almost £6 million would have been saved in court appearances alone in 2008 if other approaches to addressing child crime had been used, money which would be better spent on prevention rather than punishment.
Whole family support in a multi-agency setting, such as family intervention projects (FIPs), have a much better chance of reducing re-offending.
Evaluation of the FIPs shows positive outcomes including a 64 per cent reduction in anti-social behaviour, 58 per cent reduction in truancy, exclusions and bad behaviour at school, 61 per cent
reduction in domestic violence, 45 per cent reduction in substance misuse and a 42 per cent reduction in concerns about child protection.
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