10 to 14
Children as young as 10 should no longer be hauled into the criminal justice system, the Bar Council has said, calling for the age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales to be lifted to 14.
The recommendation comes in a new report, Reviewing the minimum age of criminal responsibility, published yesterday, which argues that prosecuting children at such a young age is neither effective, proportionate nor just.
At 10, England and Wales has the lowest age of criminal responsibility in Europe, a threshold that has sat untouched for 60 years, despite what the Bar Council says are profound shifts in the science of how children’s brains actually develop.
Bar chair Kirsty Brimelow KC, who made children in the justice system a flagship priority on taking up the role at the start of the year, said the real question was not “how do we punish” but “how do we prevent a lifetime in the criminal justice system?”
A “tough on crime” approach aimed at children, she argued, is “very rarely an effective strategy,” and dragging youngsters into the system is more likely to push them towards further offending than away from it. Diversion, she said, is better for the child, better for the public and cheaper to boot.
In the year to March 2025 just 233 children aged 10 to 12 entered the criminal justice system for the first time, only one of whom received immediate custody. Of the 1,590 children aged 10 to 14 found guilty over the same period, only 22 were locked up.
The report paints a bleak picture of who those children tend to be. Youngsters caught up in the system are disproportionately likely to have suffered abuse, trauma or bereavement, to be neurodivergent or have learning disabilities, and to come from poverty. Black and minoritised children, it adds, fare worse at every stage.
While care-experienced children make up under 1% of the child population, they account for 65% of those in the secure estate.
The Bar Council’s campaign comes amid long-running concern that the “adult” Crown court, with its secure docks, wigs, gowns and packed public galleries, is simply no place for a child to meaningfully follow, let alone participate in, their own trial.