Criminal behaviour in children under 10 - from assault to 'taking blades to school'
West Midlands Police has released figures related to 'offences' where the suspect was under the age of criminal responsibility – but what does this mean and what is done about it?
How many would-be offences were recorded by West Midlands police by children under 10?
West Midlands Police has shared its estimates* for how many instances a child under the age of criminal responsibility was suspected to be involved in something that would have been considered an offence if they were older.
The figures, released in response to a Freedom of Information request, estimated that there were 880 instances that would be offences believed to involve a child aged nine and under in 2021. This fell by almost 34 per cent by 2023.
Numbers remained higher than the decade prior with 2023's figures being 222 per cent higher than 2013 – which could be due to an increased number of reports, including ones of historical incidents.
Data also show that children approaching the age they could be charged with an offence (seven and above) had higher figures than those under the age of six.
*Note: Due to the methods used in West Midlands Police's data gathering, we are reporting these as estimates.
What types of offences were documented?
