“Twenty years ago, two 10-year-olds were prosecuted for murdering a toddler in Merseyside. Despite pressure from child protection campaigners, the UK’s minimum age of criminal responsibility remains one of the lowest in the world.”
The Guardian, 5th February 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Monsters are born, not made: the latest round in the debate about criminal responsibility questions the very existence of intuitive morality.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 29th May 2012
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“Anders Behring Breivik knew what he was doing, and he knew it was wrong. Claiming insanity is not enough to protect a person from the consequences of his own evil acts. Alternatively, he must be mad. His killing spree was so shocking and so utterly at odds with normality as to be sufficient evidence of insanity in its own right. Res ipsa loquitur. And there you have it – the whole point of the argument about ‘criminal insanity’, which has been running for centuries.”
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 18th April 2012
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
“The age of criminal responsibility in England, Wales and Northern Ireland could be ‘unreasonably low’ given the emerging understanding of how slowly the brains of children mature, according to a report by the Royal Society. Widespread differences between individuals also mean that the cut-off age at which children are deemed fit to stand trial, at 10 years old, might not be justifiable in all cases.”
The Guardian, 13th December 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Regina v St Regis Paper Company Ltd; [2011] EWCA Crim 2527; [2011] WLR (D) 317
“Criminal liability could not be imposed on a company for intentionally making a false entry to an environmental control record contrary to regulation 32(1)(g) of the Pollution Prevention and Control (England and Wales) Regulations 2000, by virtue of the intentions of the employee who committed the offence, if he was not the directing mind and will of the company.”
WLR Daily, 4th November 2011
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“At 10, our age of criminal responsibility is the lowest in Europe. But can you ever use age to determine maturity?”
The Guardian, 18th March 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Children in England understand the difference between right and wrong at age 10, according to the law. Ten years old is also the age of criminal responsibility in Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia, New Zealand.”
Daily Telegraph, 16th March 2011
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Regina v Williams (Jason John) [2010] EWCA Crim 2552; [2010] WLR (D) 274
“As a matter of statutory construction, fault or other blameworthy conduct on the part of the defendant was not required to establish that he was guilty of an offence under s 3ZB of the Road Traffic Act 1988 of causing the death of another person by driving while unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured; and it was sufficient that the driving was a cause of the death, provided that it was a more than negligible or de minimis cause.”
WLR Daily, 3rd November 2010
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Dorset County Council v House [2010] EWCA Crim 2270; [2010] WLR (D) 253
“Criminal liability under the Cattle Identification Regulations 1998 and the Cattle Database Regulations 1998 was expressly and exclusively defined in terms of a failure to carry out an obligation under Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97, so there was no criminal offence in respect of conduct after 20 July 2000 when Regulation 820/97 was repealed and replaced.”
WLR Daily, 14th October 2010
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
“Martin Narey says children shouldn’t be held legally accountable for actions until they are 12.”
The Observer, 12th September 2010
Source: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/
“The Law Commission’s proposals on regulation are welcome – but no easy alternative to a busybody state.”
The Guardian, 26th August 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“We published a consultation paper on 25 August 2010, in which we have made a number of provisional proposals on criminal liability in regulatory contexts.”
The Law Commission, 25th August 2010
Source: www.lawcom.gov.uk
“The Government has no plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility despite the outcry that followed the conviction of two boys for attempting to rape an eight-year-old girl, justice minister Lord McNally said today.”
The Independent, 10th June 2010
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“The age of criminal responsibility should be raised to 14 to better protect the ‘truly young’, one of the country’s leading barristers has said.”
Daily Telegraph, 7th June 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“The case of the two young boys convicted of attempted rape highlights once more the low age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales.”
Daily Telegraph, 25th May 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Two brothers are among Britain’s youngest convicted criminals to be placed in custody after being detained for a horrific attack on another two boys in Edlington, South Yorkshire, carried out when they were aged just 10 and 11.”
BBC News, 22nd January 2010
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“At present, child defendants are at increased risk of suffering miscarriages of justice because the courts service does not identify their vulnerabilities or ensure they understand their legal rights, the Prison Reform Trust claimed. Given that many child offenders are among ‘the most vulnerable children in society’, they should instead be dealt with through a welfare-based system rather than an adversarial court trial.”
Daily Telegraph, 1st December 2009
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“A sexual assault by a nine-year-old was one of 32 recorded offences involving under 10s last year, a police force revealed today.”
The Independent, 24th August 2009
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“In England and Wales the age of criminal responsiblity is 10 – but should it be raised?”
BBC News, 10th June 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Regina (JS) (Sri Lanka) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
Court of Appeal
“In order to establish that an asylum seeker was liable for a joint criminal enterprise such as to exclude him from the protection of the Geneva Convention as complicit in war crimes or crimes against humanity, there had to have been a common design which amounted to or involved the commission of a crime provided for by statute.”
The Times, 11th May 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
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