Raising the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility

Our key call:

Raise the age of criminal responsibility in line with international children’s rights standards

Background information and introduction to our work

The age of criminal responsibility is still a reserved matter for the UK Government.

At 10 years of age, England and Wales have been criticised for having one of the lowest ages of criminal responsibility in Western Europe. Children’s brains are still developing, to apply the same standards of criminal responsibility to a 10-year-old as we would to an adult, is to ignore large amounts of evidence about the immaturity of children at that age. The age of criminal responsibility is out of sync with other age-based legislation for children.

Children who come into contact with the criminal justice system, are proven to have highly complex needs or have experienced trauma. These include:

• young people with speech and language difficulties,
• children who are neurodivergent or have additional learning needs,
• mental health problems,
• abused and neglected children
• and care experienced children.

Children from deprived backgrounds and ethnic minority backgrounds are also overrepresented in the criminal justice system.

Criminalising children is proven not to work, it actually does more harm than good. To prevent offending; early intervention, diversionary practices, and the reintegration of the child into society, creates better outcomes for children, than dealing with the child through the criminal justice system.

The Commission for Justice has recommended that the age of criminal responsibility be raised in Wales and also recommended devolving justice powers, which could enable the Senedd to legislate and raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility, in line with international children’s rights standards. 

Children’s rights advocates, Senedd Members and  Senior judges have repeatedly warned that the current age of criminal responsibility is incompatible with modern understanding of child development and have long argued that criminalisation at 10 is not only ineffective, but actively harmful. Please see our series of blogs below on this subject,  a recent update, compelling arguments put forward in a Senedd debate January 14, 2026, and by senior judges in December 2025.