UK ‘breaches human rights laws’ over youth sentencing
England risks violating international standards on human rights over its “excessively punitive” youth justice system, the EU’s rights watchdog warns Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke.
The European Council’s commissioner for human rights, Thomas Hammarberg, has written to the justice secretary to urge the UK to raise the age at which children can be prosecuted and detained, saying that at 10, the age of criminal responsibility is years lower than the European average of 14.
He criticised the English juvenile system for locking up children with “relative ease”, saying this is “counter-productive” and contributes to high re-offending rates.
Mr Hammarberg said: “Despite some progress, the system of juvenile justice in the United Kingdom remains excessively punitive.
“The state’s response to juvenile crime should focus more on rehabilitation.
“The relative ease with which children are placed on remand in the United Kingdom raises questions as to the compatibility of this approach with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
He also raised previous concerns over the use of restraint methods which inflict pain on children, and said that further proactive investigative action was required if “evidence of past patterns of grave violations comes to light”.
Disproportionately high
Although latest figures, from January, said there were no children in detention at the age of 10, and the youngest prisoner in England is 12, the age of criminal responsibility in England is the joint second lowest in Europe, with Switzerland. While Scotland’s corresponding age is 8, prosecutions can only take place from the age of 12 under legislation which was put into place last year.
The majority of countries in Europe have an age of criminal responsibility of 14. The number of children in detention in England is one of the highest in Europe, coming behind France.
However the Ministry of Justice has told Channel 4 News that it “believes” the last review into the age of criminal responsibility was carried out in 1969, although it was unable to confirm that date. A spokesman added that there are no plans to look into it any further.
Mr Hammarberg continued: “Despite the decrease in youth crime, re-offending rates remain above 70 per cent in the United Kingdom. This raises fundamental questions about the purpose and effectiveness of the juvenile justice system and calls for reflection.”
In his reply, Mr Clarke admitted that “prosecution is not always the most appropriate response to youth offending” and that “we agree the current level of secure remand for under-18s is disproportionately high”.
Read more from FactCheck: Jailbird juveniles – too much too young?
Restraint techniques
But he defended the current age of criminal responsibility, saying:
“We believe that setting the age of criminal responsibility at 10 allows frontline services to intervene early and robustly, preventing further reoffending, whilst helping young people develop a sense of personal responsibility for their behaviour.”
Mr Clarke also defended the use of violent restraint tactics, saying: “A degree of pain in restraint techniques may be necessary in exceptional circumstances, for example in order to prevent harm to a young person in custody.”
He added that measures being introduced in the Legal Aid, Sentecing and Punishment of Offenders Bill would treat 17-year-olds as juveniles for the purpose of remand for the first time, and that it would give the police more flexibility in their response to juvenile offending.
Although the EU Commissioner does not at this stage plan to take any further action, it is understood he will remain “in dialogue” with justice officials over the matter.
The Ministry of Justice has defended itself against allegations that it could be violating the ECHR, telling Channel 4 News its laws “in this area are compliant”. The spokesman added that custody is used “as a last resort for the most serious or persistent young offenders where it is necessary to protect the public”.
He continued: “We welcome the decline in the number of young people entering the criminal justice system. We need to break the cycle of offending which is why we are introducing changes to the system – this includes robust intervention; young people paying back to victims and supporting local programmes which better tackle the root causes of youth crime and reoffending.”