A touch of sanity

Every once in a blue moon, I read some sanity on criminal justice policy.

The Economist, this week, has one those of those moments.

Lock up your sons and daughters

"The figures on the under-tens, unearthed by the BBC, have led some to call for the age of criminal responsibility to be lowered in order to let the little monsters feel the force of the law. In fact this age is already near the bottom in Britain. Most of Europe does not prosecute offenders younger than 14 to 16, and elsewhere in the world the watershed comes as late as 18. Scotland's limit is just eight years old, but its system means that few under-16s face court anyway.

For those whose houses have been daubed with graffiti, the age for prosecution cannot be too low. But hawks should beware. 'A court appearance can, in certain cases, confirm an adolescent's deviant identity both in their own eyes and those of others,' argues Rob Allen, a former member of the Youth Justice Board (YJB). Research from Edinburgh University found that children who had contact with a Children's Hearing—Scotland's version of a youth court—were three times more likely to be convicted as adults than young offenders who had not. 'The deeper you get pulled into the system, the worse the outcome,' says Lesley McAra, one of the study's directors. Solving problems informally is more effective, she says."

Makes me think that, perhaps, the world has not gone completely around the bend.

Love,
Ben