13th September 2010
Children's charity Barnardos has released a new report calling for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised from ten to twelve in England and Wales. The charity argues that the Government should consider doing this for all offences other than murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, rape and aggravated sexual assault. They argue that imposing the formality of the criminal justice system on children aged eleven and under is unnecessary and ineffective. Instead, a range of other meaningful interventions should be employed in dealing with anti-social behaviour, including approaches such as Family Intervention Projects which challenge and support parents and their children to accept responsibility for their actions. This sort of approach is much more likely to be effective in combating crime than merely convicting the child.
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Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.