‘Grey area between ages of 10 and 14’ in terms of criminal responsibility

There is a “grey area” between the ages of 10 and 14 when it comes to who should be held criminally responsible, the Stormont Justice Committee has heard.

Under current legislation children aged 10 in Northern Ireland can be arrested and taken to a youth court if they commit a crime.

The minimum age of criminal responsibility is also 10 in England and Wales but is 12 in Scotland, and in the Republic of Ireland.

Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People Chris Quinn, and his predecessor Koulla Yiasouma, called for the age to be raised in the region, describing 10 as one of the lowest ages for responsibility in Europe.

A public consultation carried out by the Department of Justice in 2023 indicated broad support for that position.

The change has been proposed as an amendment to the Justice Bill Northern Ireland, which is currently at committee stage in the Stormont Assembly legislative process.

It includes exceptions for the crimes of murder, manslaughter and rape.

The Bill aims to amend the law around the retention and destruction of fingerprints and DNA profiles, and also around the release of children on bail and about their detention.

The Stormont Justice Committee held their third evidence session on the Justice Bill with a police delegation, led by Assistant Chief Constable Anthony McNally, on Thursday.

The committee heard that while there is no criminal investigation for children under 10, the case will be referred to social services, because often there are background circumstances, such as hunger.

There have also been cases of children aged 10 and younger involved in rioting.

Mr McNally said he was not taking a position on what the age of criminal responsibility should be, adding that as a police service their starting position was that they do not want to criminalise children.

Pressed for his view by SDLP MLA Patsy McGlone, Mr McNally said from his experience of policing, when it comes to children, like adults, there is a “small proportion who carry out crime”.

“I wouldn’t ever be prescriptive around an age (for criminal responsibility) … there’s a massive, massive variation across the children that I have dealt with in my career, and I say that as the head of public protection for four years,” he said.

“Our starting position is that we don’t want to criminalise children, whatever age that’s put then we’ll apply the law accordingly.”

UUP MLA Doug Beattie said there is a “real grey area between the ages of ten and 14” in terms of moving into a more technological world.

He said whether the current system works or is lacking.

Chief Superintendent Gary McDonald said there is an infrastructure that supports children going through the justice system, which is separate to the adult system, adding that “like any system, there are issues within it”.

Meanwhile, Mr McNally also indicated an intention to modernise the custody suite offering across Northern Ireland.

He described a “mixed economy” in terms of custody suites, with modern facilities at Musgrave Street in Belfast and at Waterside in Londonderry, as well as some which are “very old”, where there is less ability to segregate adults and children being detained.

But he said ultimately police aim to do all they can to make sure a child is in custody for “the least amount of time possible”.

He added that in the future they would look to amalgamate some of the custody suites around Lurgan, Omagh and Dungannon and build a modern suite, potentially at Mahon Road in Portadown.