Bar Council backs youth justice reforms and questions criminal responsibility age at 10
The Bar Council has backed the Government’s new Youth Justice White Paper while calling for a fundamental shift away from the criminalisation of children and towards rehabilitation-focused justice reform. Responding to the Ministry of Justice’s newly published policy paper, Cutting Youth Crime. Changing Young Lives, Chair of the Bar Council, Kirsty Brimelow KC, said the organisation welcomed the Government’s “proactive approach” to reforming how children are treated within the criminal justice system. However, she stressed that long-term success would depend on sustained funding and meaningful structural change.
The White Paper outlines a major overhaul of youth justice policy, focusing on earlier intervention, rehabilitation, reducing unnecessary criminalisation and improving outcomes for vulnerable children. The Government said the current system must “intervene earlier, respond consistently and proportionately, and have rehabilitation at its heart.”
Brimelow echoed those concerns, warning that criminalising children at an early age risks pushing them further into offending behaviour rather than steering them away from crime. “There needs to be a shift from criminalisation, which long has been shown to set a child onto a path of crime, to rehabilitation,” she said.
The Bar Council’s intervention comes as the White Paper itself acknowledges that “over-criminalisation of children is not effective in the long-term” and that diversion away from prosecution can often produce better outcomes for both young people and society.
The Government’s reform plan includes new Youth Intervention Courts, increased investment in early intervention schemes, reforms to youth custody and a review of how criminal courts handle child defendants. The White Paper also confirms ministers are considering whether the age of criminal responsibility currently set at 10 in England and Wales remains appropriate.
Brimelow highlighted the issue directly, describing England and Wales as an international outlier. “Knowledge about child development has moved on substantially, and yet the minimum age of criminal responsibility remains at 10 years old in England and Wales,” she said. “It is the youngest in Europe, and we are an outlier in prosecuting young children.”
The White Paper similarly recognises growing evidence around childhood vulnerability, trauma and development. It states that children are “developmentally distinct from adults” and that early intervention is essential to prevent future offending and long-term criminalisation.
The Ministry of Justice has welcomed the Bar Council’s contribution to the debate and confirmed it will consider the organisation’s upcoming report on the minimum age of criminal responsibility as part of future reform discussions. The Government’s wider strategy also includes reducing custodial remands for children, strengthening community-based interventions and moving away from large custodial institutions towards more child-centred environments.
Throughout the White Paper, ministers repeatedly stress that rehabilitation and public protection should work together rather than in opposition. The document argues that effective youth justice must focus on preventing escalation into offending while still protecting communities and victims.
Brimelow reinforced that principle, saying that protecting society and protecting childhood “should not be competing aims” and warning against defining children as criminals at a very young age. With the Bar Council preparing a detailed report on criminal responsibility laws in the coming weeks, pressure is likely to grow for deeper reform of the youth justice system across England and Wales.