Did you know that ten year old children can treated as criminals in this country?

Full Episode description

That's right… the age of criminal responsibility for children in England & Wales is only 10 years old! This is the lowest age in Europe and one of the lowest worldwide. Alma- Constance and Lucinda talk to Kirsty Brimelow KC, an expert in international human rights, public and criminal law and recently elected Vice Chair of the Bar Council for 2025. She explained:

• How the law of criminal responsibility has come about
• The sorts of crimes that children are charged with
• The impact on the lives of children who are put into the criminal justice system
• The attempts to raise the age of criminal responsibility
• About the countries which are seen as effective examples in how they approach juvenile justice 
• The role international organisations play in seeking to raise the age 

When Kirsty was eight she was inspired to think about the importance of fairness and justice in everyday life.

References and Resources

Kirsty Brimelow KC

Kids Law Episode Sir Max Hill KC, 'Can you really become a criminal at 10?'when he was the Director of Public Prosecutions. 

Kids Law episode Why are Children’s Rights in Scotland the Strongest in the UK? With Bruce Adamson,when he was the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland.

Kirsty Brimelow KC Kids Law episode 'Do witches really exist and how do lawyers get involved?'

Age of criminal responsibility

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8565619.stm?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://archive.crin.org/en/home/ages.html https://www.unicef.org/eca/reports/systematic-responses-children-under-minimum-age-criminal-responsibility

https://www.unicef.org/lac/media/2771/file/PDF%20Minimum%20age%20for%20criminal%20responsibility.pdf

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