Lammy: Raise Age of Criminal Responsibility from 10 to 14?
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy is considering lifting the age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales from 10 to as high as 14, The Times reported this morning. The government is “eyeing Scotland’s law”, under which children cannot be charged with criminal offences before age 12, as a possible starting point. The intervention — the first substantive domestic-policy announcement of the new political week — lands alongside the cabinet’s public ring-fence around the Prime Minister, with Lammy yesterday morning on Sky News saying “there will be no timetable for departure” and that the party needed to “get back on the pitch”.
The current age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 10 — among the lowest in Europe and below the UN-recommended minimum of 14. The Council of Europe and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child have repeatedly criticised the threshold; raising it would align England and Wales with the majority of European jurisdictions. The proposal is politically delicate: it sits across the Home Office, Justice and Education briefs, has potential implications for prosecuting violent youth offenders such as the Southport killer, and would require legislation. The Lammy intervention is part of the broader cabinet pattern of substantive policy announcements through the week intended to shift the political news cycle away from the leadership question and toward delivery.