The Bar Council, which describes itself as the voice of the barrister profession in England and Wales, has called for the minimum age of criminal responsibility to be raised from 10 to 14
Demands have been made to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14.
The Bar Council, which represents the barrister profession in England and Wales, has been examining whether the existing age of criminal responsibility is still fit for purpose.
Both the Law Commission and England’s children’s commissioner have thrown their weight behind the Bar Council’s recommendation. Under current rules, children as young as 10 can be arrested and charged with a criminal offence.
Young people aged between 10 and 17 are handled by youth courts and placed in secure centres for juveniles rather than adult prisons. The Bar Council report, released on Sunday, stated that the age of 10 “remains low by contemporary global standards”.
The Government, in a youth justice paper published in May, said it would “carefully consider” the review and its recommendations. The Bar Council noted that 14 is the lowest age recommended by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) for children to be held criminally responsible, and is the most widely used age threshold across the globe.
Scotland raised its minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12 back in 2019. While recent efforts were under way in Northern Ireland to lift its threshold from 10, the proposed change appeared likely to be blocked via an Assembly veto mechanism, reports Chronicle Live.
Campaigners pushing for reform have previously suggested that the 1993 murder of two year old James Bulger in Liverpool by 10-year-olds Jon Venables and Robert Thompson has created hesitancy around raising the age of criminal responsibility.
Bar Council chairwoman Kirsty Brimelow recognised that any discussion about the age of criminal responsibility “brings back the memory of the James Bulger case”, but noted that while the case was “terrible and grave” it remained “exceptionally rare”.
“Current age of 10 years is far too low” The Bar Council report reveals that of the 1,590 children aged between 10 and 14 convicted of offences in the year to March 2025, only 22 received immediate custodial sentences, and contends that such a minimal figure “makes it clear that any argument for criminalisation of this cohort cannot realistically be supported by an appeal to the need for criminal process in order to protect the public, even for the short duration of a custodial sentence”. Regarding the current situation, Ms Brimelow stated: “As well as setting children on a separate track, which funnels them towards further crime and prison, this approach also produces inconsistencies within UK law.
“This report does not diminish the need for intervention and protection of the public. Rather, it asks whether criminalisation at such an early age is the most effective, proportionate or just response. It returns a definitive negative answer.”
The report indicates that the evidence “overwhelmingly supports” the finding that criminalising young children “undermines public safety and has adverse outcomes for the child by increasing future offending and perpetuating and punishing underlying vulnerabilities and disadvantage”. The report determines that age 14 “provides a clear and developmentally informed threshold below which children are not rendered criminally culpable”.
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The report notes that interventions for children under 14 can still take place “without being criminalised”, including child protection, education, welfare, mental health and family support. Raising the age “allows greater scope for diversion and rehabilitation, better serving prevention of a younger child becoming the older child who commits serious crime and, by doing so, protects those who would be the victims of the future”, it concludes.
Ms Brimelow said: “A ‘tough on crime’ approach to the treatment of children which focuses only on punishment as a method of shaping children’s behaviour is very rarely an effective strategy. Mechanisms that reduce the number of children brought into the criminal justice system, through diversion as well as raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility, are less likely to result in an increase in crime amongst this cohort.
“Bringing children into the criminal justice system is more likely to result in further offending. Diversionary programmes are more beneficial to the individual child and to the public in terms of reducing future crime and attendant resources.
“It is also cost-effective financially as well as societally. Increasing the minimum age of criminal responsibility is essential as it can tackle reoffending and prevent future victims of harm.”
Mark Evans, President of the Law Society of England and Wales, stated: “We support raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years; the current age of 10 years is far too low. This would be an important step towards aligning the system with evidence on child development and ensuring more effective responses to children who do wrong. We call on the government to accept this proposal as part of its youth justice reforms.”
England’s Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, commented: “I believe no child at the age of ten should be sentenced for a crime; instead, they need a robust and well-enforced alternative – but one which doesn’t push them into the criminal justice system. I hope the Government seriously considers the recommendations of the Bar Council.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson responded: “The current age of criminal responsibility is 10 and no decision has been made on changing it. Any decision we make will always be guided by expert evidence and have the public and victims’ best interests at its heart.”