Closed petition Change the criminal age of responsibility to be used as a guideline

Closed on 30 March 2015

We are petitioning to change the criminal age of responsibility. Currently, it stands at 10 years old in the UK, which, to some, is too low. Therefore, it is being discussed in the House of Lords, through a bill backed by Lord Dholakia, to raise it to 12. However, we believe that in certain cases, where the seriousness of the crime is very extreme, the appropriate punishments should be carried out. This includes things like murder, rape and other crimes that could potentially put members of the public at serious risk. Certain cases include the James Bulger case and the Mary Bell case. These support our argument that the criminal age of responsibility should be used as a guideline rather than the deciding factor that chooses whether a child criminal goes into prison or not.