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  "path": "/politics/age-of-criminal-responsibility-uk-raised-labour-youth-justice",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-18T23:31:35.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "authority to imprison parents",
    "Watch the moment BMW driver crashes into hedge while 'trying to show off'",
    "Police reveal one-year-old baby among HUNDREDS of children under 10 reported for offences",
    "Rogue high street shops to face police raids and closures amid nationwide crackdown on crime",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
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  "textContent": "\n\n\nThe age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales could be raised to as high as 14 under David Lammy's overhaul to the youth justice system.\n\nThe Youth Justice White Paper, published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), sets out a major re-think as to how Britain's justice system handles young offenders.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMr Lammy said Labour would \"carefully consider\" whether the existing age of criminal responsibility of 10 reflected \"modern understanding of childhood, vulnerability and development in today's society\".\n\nThe reforms also pledge to cut the number of children held in custody by a fifth within three years, with around 420 under-18s currently detained.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\nAdditional measures include overhauling how childhood criminal records are disclosed and granting judges authority to imprison parents whose children persistently reoffend.\n\nEngland and Wales, along with Northern Ireland, has the lowest age of criminal responsibility anywhere in Europe.\n\nThe threshold has stood at 10 since 1963, when it was raised from eight.\n\nBy contrast, Germany sets its limit at 14, Sweden at 15, and Portugal at 16.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nScotland already operates under different rules, with children unable to face criminal charges until they reach 12.\n\nThe MoJ document references a report by the UN, which advocates for the age to be lifted to 14.\n\nMinisters are also examining the Irish model, where the general threshold is 12 - but children aged 10 or 11 may still be prosecuted for the most serious offences including murder, manslaughter and rape.\n\nShadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy has voiced strong opposition to the proposed changes, warning that even young children are capable of horrific acts.\n\n### CRIME - READ THE LATEST:\n\n\n\n\n  * Watch the moment BMW driver crashes into hedge while 'trying to show off'\n  * Police reveal one-year-old baby among HUNDREDS of children under 10 reported for offences\n  * Rogue high street shops to face police raids and closures amid nationwide crackdown on crime\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"Labour don't have it in their DNA to be tough on crime,\" Mr Timothy declared, adding there was \"a lot to worry about in these proposals\".\n\nHe pointed to the 1993 murder of two-year-old James Bulger by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, both aged 10 at the time, as evidence that young people can commit acts of \"extreme cruelty and violence\".\n\nThe pair became Britain's youngest convicted murderers and would have escaped prosecution entirely had the age threshold been just one year higher.\n\nMr Timothy also criticised what he described as \"artificial targets to reduce imprisonment rates regardless of the level of crime\".\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nKirsty Brimelow KC, who leads the Bar Council, argued that major legal reforma were necessary to align with contemporary understanding of child development.\n\n\"There needs to be a shift from criminalisation, which long has been shown to set a child on to a path of crime, to rehabilitation,\" she said.\n\nThe Bar Council's own review is expected to recommend raising the age threshold when it reports in coming weeks.\n\nThe Youth Justice White Paper also proposes ending the lifelong obligation for individuals to reveal criminal offences committed during their youth.\n\nHowever, the MoJ emphasised that records would not be \"wiped\" entirely, with disclosure still required for the gravest offences including violent crimes.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Labour considers raising age of criminal responsibility amid youth justice overhaul"
}