Children in the dock?
Submitted by Ian on Thu, 17/06/2010 - 16:41
Last week Paul Mendelle QC ,the chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said the age of criminal responsibility should be raised to 14. The current limit of 10 runs the risk of children being prosecuted for crimes that they are too immature to understand, he said.
This follows the conviction of boys aged 10 and 11 for attempted rape.
Mr. Mendelle argues that children of that age may know that what they are doing is naughty and wrong but may not realise it is a crime for which they can lose their liberty.
I tend to agree with him.
