Advocating a Second Reading of his Private Member's Bill to raise the age of criminal responsibility Lord Dholakia, pointing out the inconsistent way children are treated in this country, declared "at present, children who are too young to attend secondary school can be prosecuted and receive a criminal record."
"In all other areas of law," he contrasted, "whether it is the age for buying a pet, the age for paid employment, the age of consent to sexual activity or the age of smoking and drinking, children are not regarded as fully competent to take informed decisions until later in adolescence." This conflicting approach can be seen at its most ironic, Lord Dholakia declared, where "a 30 year-old who had a mental age of a 10 year-old child would probably be regarded as unfit to plead and yet, by a strange twist of logic, a child of 10 is seen as capable of participating in the criminal justice process," something Lord Dholakia "simply cannot accept".
Lord Dholakia declared, "We must also accept that in any civilised society, from time to time, there will be heinous and serious crimes and it is how we deal with such crimes that determines how civilised we are," as he addressed the Chamber.
The Bill, a testament to Lord Dholakia's efforts to ameliorate the criminal justice system, aims to change the law so that children in England, Wales and Northern Ireland under the age of 12 years will not be tried in a criminal court for any offences.
Lord Dholakia was keen to reassure doubters that "taking 10 and 11 year-olds out of the criminal justice system would not mean doing nothing with children who offend."
Lord Dholakia outlined that they would be dealt with by way of intervention by children's services teams, and, "in the minority of cases where court proceedings are necessary, it would mean bringing children before family proceedings courts, which can impose compulsory measures of supervision and care". This way, Lord Dholakia believed would not "put the public at risk; "and in the most serious cases," it could mean long-term detention in secure accommodation, "arranged by way of "care proceedings rather than as a custodial punishment imposed in criminal proceedings."
It was illogical to think that these children should be dealt with in the criminal courts just because they are capable of understanding "right from wrong". "Most six year-olds," he said, "have a sense of right and wrong but no one suggests that they should be subject to criminal prosecution."
