Under-10s ‘have committed 20,000 crimes’

Children under 10 have been accused of more than 20,000 crimes across England and Wales over the past six years, new figures reveal.

Among the offences include children as young as five suspected of sexual assault and a six-year-old accused of rape. Other crimes investigated include threats to kill, arson, possession of firearms with intent and racially aggravated common assault.

Data released by 30 of the 43 police forces — following Freedom of Information requests by journalism students at Highbury College in Portsmouth — show the number of crimes by children under 10 has risen from 1,917 offences in 2012, to 4,209 in 2016.

So far in 2017, police have identified 3,631 young suspects.

Children under 10 cannot be legally charged with committing a criminal offence, however they can be given a local child curfew or a child safety order. Those who break the law can sometimes be taken into care or their parents can be held responsible.

It comes as a bill is currently being pushed through Parliament to raise the age of criminal responsibility in the UK from 10 to 12.

Laurence Lee, who was the solicitor who represented 10-year-old Jon Venables in the James Bulger murder case in 1993, said increasing the age limit would be ‘mad’.

“To raise it would be absolutely absurd. I’ll tell you now, if they were to raise it so many 10 and 11 year olds would be laughing their socks off,” he said.

“What would happen is older criminals would just get the 10 and 11 year olds to do the ‘shooting’.”

Mr Lee argues that a solution could be a ‘two-tier’ system in place, where minor crimes are dealt with in the current manner, but more serious crimes are prosecuted.

“I don’t believe that every 10-year-old that shoplifts should be arrested, in fact they never are,” he said.

“Ten is about right at the moment. The criminal age of responsibility should always be monitored, perhaps on a yearly basis, and if society does get worse, then it has to be looked at periodically.”

Greater Manchester has had more than double the amount of children’s crimes compared to all other forces, with 4,371 crimes since the beginning of 2012. The number of crimes has risen from 441 in 2012, to 1,246 so far in 2017.

In Merseyside, children were linked to drug related crimes and even the possession of firearms. The rate of sexually related crimes in the area has also risen dramatically over the past six years, increasing from four alleged offences in 2012 to 24 so far this year.

Cambridgeshire Police’s figures revealed an alleged three-year-old thief as well as five-year-olds suspected of sexual assault on children under the age of 13.

The report from Humberside Police showed that the most common age of suspected criminals was nine years old, with 184 of the 401 children’s crimes from the past six years linked to the age group.

At 10 years old, the national age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is one of the lowest ages in Western Europe.

Scotland did have the youngest age at eight years old, but last year the Scottish government decided to raise it to 12.

The NSPCC believes the rest of the UK should follow suit.

A spokesperson said: “The criminal justice system must support children who have committed offences to change their behaviour and hold young people increasingly accountable for their actions as they mature.

“But at age 10, children are unlikely to understand the consequences of their actions or be able to effectively participate in criminal proceedings.

“The NSPCC believes the current age of criminal responsibility should be raised to at least 12 years of age in England.

“Robust action outside the youth justice system to deal with child offenders aged 10 and 11 would serve justice more effectively and better prevent future crime.”