Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his Department's policy is on criminal offences of people under 18 being carried forward into adulthood.

We want to divert children from entering the criminal justice system in the first instance, with custody and other sanctions used only as a last resort. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 primarily exists to support rehabilitation and enable the employment of reformed offenders who have stayed on the right side of the law. The current criminal records system strikes a balance between the rights of the individual and the public’s right to protection.

The government’s policy has previously been stated during submissions to the Justice Select Committee on 11th November 2016:

http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/justice-committee/disclosure-of-youth-criminal-records/written/43085.html