Youth Justice
Debate between Baroness Levitt and Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone(3 weeks, 2 days ago)
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Baroness Levitt (Lab)
It is for our independent judges to decide whether somebody is given bail or remanded. All that we are looking at is whether alternatives can be offered to the courts. At the moment, you tend to have a straightforward binary choice of bail back at home where half the problem started in the first place or remand into custody in one of these institutions that we know do not work for children and where there is a huge risk of reoffending once they are released. For the most serious offences, there is no question but that children will continue to be remanded into the custodial estate. But we want to be more imaginative about this, remembering that these are not tiny adults but children, and some of them come from very difficult circumstances.
Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)
My Lords, I commend the report. I am among those who would like to see the age of criminal responsibility increased—