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should the age of criminal responsibility be raised to 14?

toffuna101toffuna101 Posts: 3,809 Community Veteran
in Politics & Debate
so a week or two ago an article was released on the guardian stating that top judges join the call for the age of responsibility in england and wales to be raised to 14. in scotland they have already raised the age of criminal responsbility from 8 to 12 in 2021 causing discussion to be made on the age of criminal responsibility in england and wales. in my opinion i think the ACR should be raised to 12 not 14 because as a former 12 year old myself i knew the difference between right and wrong. plus only 12-17 year olds can be handed a DTO aka a custodial sentence in youth court so it would make sense. 10 and 11 year olds very rarely receive custodial sentences because of this so it would make sense to paint them out of the picture entirely and raise the ACR to 12 instead. heres the article if youre interested:
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/dec/23/top-judges-call-england-wales-raise-age-criminal-responsibility-to-14
what do you think? do you think the ACR should be raised to 14 or should it stay at 10?

Comments

  • independent_independent_ Community Connector Posts: 10,081 An Original Mixlorian
    Tbh I agree with you - by 12 you should, in most cases, know right from wrong. But 10 (and 8, I live in Scotland and always thought that was ridiculous) you don’t always.

    There does, however, need to be contingency plans for the very very rare cases where younger children do commit serious crimes. If you haven’t already, google James Bulger, this is the kind of thing I’m on about here.
    “Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to, it’s not for them.”
  • toffuna101toffuna101 Posts: 3,809 Community Veteran
    independent_ wrote: »
    Tbh I agree with you - by 12 you should, in most cases, know right from wrong. But 10 (and 8, I live in Scotland and always thought that was ridiculous) you don’t always.

    There does, however, need to be contingency plans for the very very rare cases where younger children do commit serious crimes. If you haven’t already, google James Bulger, this is the kind of thing I’m on about here.

    yeah i know about the james bulger case. that was a very sad case, and its still being talked about today because of how serious it was. 10 and 11 year olds who commit very serious crimes like murder should be dealt with by putting them in a secure children's home where rehabilitation is the main priority instead of punishment and the james bulger killers were placed in one back then. i believe one of them went on to commit more crimes, whilst the other was rehabilitated.
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