ИСТИНА

It is considered that the UK takes a punitive approach establishing the age of criminal responsibility at ten years in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and at eight in Scotland. Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrat) has made several attempts to change the current legislation increasing the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 in England and Wales. In September 2017 the bill had its second reading and currently the Committee stage is to be scheduled. The question is critical considering that research shows that young children demonstrating anti-social behavior have such backgrounds characterized by abuse, poverty, family disruption. In these circumstances, the punitive approach is both inappropriate and harmful. Still there is a possibility for the vast majority of children to grow out of their offending behavior, yet those children who are criminalized are at peril of repeat offending. Finally, the goal should be to divert children away from criminal justice system providing the necessary social support and care to facilitate the desistance from criminal activity.