Children as young as 10 accused of being involved in rioting and other activities risk having their life chances ruined by being brought before the courts, it has been warned.
Children’s commissioner Chris Quinn issued the stark warning after the arrest of several young children in recent weeks in connection with a series of high-profile incidents.
The current minimum age of criminal responsibility in the north is 10, which apart from England Wales, is the lowest in Europe.
Mr Quinn said he now wants the minimum age of criminal responsibility raised to 16.
His comments come after children, some as young as 10, were arrested over the summer.
Several of those detained have since been charged.
Some of the arrests were linked to disorder in different parts of the north.
It emerged last month that an 11-year-old boy had been charged with offences including causing an explosion likely to endanger life after riots in south Belfast in July.
A 10-year-old boy and two other youths aged 13 were also arrested after rioting in Derry in August.
All three were later bailed.
Earlier this month three boys, one aged 10 and two 11-year-olds, were charged with arson after The Church of the Holy Name was torched at Greenisland.
Mr Quinn believes the appropriate age of criminal responsibility should be raised by six years.
“We have long campaigned for raising the age of criminal responsibility,” he said.
“Currently we have one of the youngest ages of criminal responsibilities in these islands and this part of the world, and children here can be criminalised from the age of 10.
“It’s not to say that when a crime happens it should go unnoticed, obviously there needs to be a process there.”
Mr Quinn added that “criminalising those kids now isn’t going to solve the problem”.
In August chief constable Jon Boutcher said that while police didn’t want to “criminalise young people” involved “in the type of disorder” seen in Derry “age will not play a factor”.
“They will be arrested and prosecuted,” he added.
Mr Quinn spoke with Mr Boutcher during a recent meeting.
“We had a good conversation…on various issues including the trouble that had happened, both sectarian motivated and racially motivated,” he said.
Mr Quinn said the chief constable approached the matter from the perspective of protecting officers and that he was “coming at it from a different angle”.
“I wouldn’t say it was an issue that we agreed on necessarily,” he said.
“He had a different view with regards to prosecution of children than I would.”
Mr Quinn said he wanted to “call out criminal coercion, criminal exploitation” of children and raised concerns about what took place in Derry.
The commissioner agreed police could show more discretion when dealing with children.
“There’s definitely other avenues that can be pursued,” he said.
“The police do have the ability to go down a different route, in particular, looking at that restorative approach engaging with youth justice, engaging with community organisations and taking an approach that does not necessarily criminalise that child.”
Mr Quinn believes a “less punitive” approach can be adapted.
“Absolutely, there needs to be accountability here, what happened was really bad and I would absolutely condemn disorder and criminal damage,” he said.
“I would definitely argue that the police can take a different approach.”
The commissioner said he has recently written to executive ministers requesting their position in relation to the minimum age of criminal responsibility and asking if they will support raising the age of responsibility.
“The minimum age is way, way too young,” he said.
“There’s a danger that your children are going to get stuck in a cycle by criminalising them so young.”
Mr Quinn outlined some of the consequences of criminalising young children that could impact life chances.
“There will undoubtedly be an impact on the child’s self-esteem, it could create barriers to education, employment, even travel,” he said.
“Punitive measures in my opinion could increase the likelihood of reoffending.
“It doesn’t work.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said minister Naomi Long supports change.
“Minister Long recognises that this is too low and is fully supportive of an increase in the minimum age of criminal responsibility, but any change to MACR requires cross-party support, which to date has not been forthcoming,” she said.
“Following a public consultation in 2022 which demonstrated overwhelming public support (83%) for an increase, she has written to Executive colleagues to update them on the outcome of this consultation and to propose a number of options for progressing this issue.”
The PSNI said it aimed to ensure that young people only entered custody for the right reasons at the right time.
“Where offences have been committed, they are dealt with within the confines of our responsibility to uphold the law.
“Where appropriate, we seek alternative disposals and ways of addressing behaviour and work closely with our partners in the Youth Justice Agency to ensure that the right support and intervention is in place to reduce offending.”
