20,000 CRIMES A YEAR BY UNDER-18S

Assault & drug possession most common offences ‘Support, love & hope’ needed says Barnardo’s chief

ASSAULT, theft and possession of drugs are among the crimes in Northern Ireland where the prime suspect was a child.

An exclusive Freedom Of Information request revealed police recorded 20,503 incidents in the past year where the culprit was under 18.

Assault was the most common crime reported with 4,713 records, including 685 on police and four on ambulance workers.

Criminal damage followed with 2,143 cases and 1,779 thefts.

There were also 902 cases of drug possession, nine attempts of murder and 18 murders.

Barnardo’s chief Javed Khan said: “Our

Uk-wide services see first-hand how vulnerable children are exploited and coerced into criminal activity.

“Our focus should be on keeping children safe and addressing the ‘poverty of hope’ felt by too many children and young people across the country, who see little or no chance of a positive future.

“Ministers, police, education, local authorities and charities must work together with communities and local young people to tackle root causes and find solutions.

“With the right support, love and hope, young people can turn their lives around and see a positive future.”

The total number of crimes reported with a suspect aged under 18 was up compared to the previous year, when there were 13,028 recorded.

The figures stated the suspect was aged 17 in 6,600 recorded crimes in 2018/19. There were 5,318 incidents where they were aged 16 and 3,759 where the 15.

The age of criminal responsibility in England, Northern Ireland and Wales is 10 years old, meaning children below this age can’t be arrested or charged with a crime. It is eight years old in Scotland. Under 10s who break the law may be given a local child curfew or a child safety order, putting them under the supervision of a youth offending team.

Children who repeatedly commit crimes may be taken into care.

In 2018/19, 29 police forces across the UK recorded 386,905 crimes where the age of the suspect was 17 or under.

That was an increase from 384,544 the previous year, and the highest number recorded since at least 2014/15.

However, police forces explained their figures could be wrong because of inaccuracies recording the date of birth of the offender.

Overall there were at least 2,652 crimes where the suspect was under 10.

4.7k Number of assaults which were reported to police by under-18s

902 Number of instances where cases of drug possession was reported