Arson, grievous bodily harm (GBH), sex offense, robbery - these are just a few crimes committed by children as young as four in London in the past year. There were around 126 criminal acts perpetrated by youngsters under ten during the 2015/16 financial year.
Police recorded that there have been 16 sex offences carried out by children between ages four and nine, and alarmingly, 25 percent of those crimes being committed by four year-olds, according to a report by The London Evening Standard. Two arson incidents were committed by one child aged eight, and another aged nine, while two other youngsters have been caught possessing dangerous offensive weapons.
Wounding, or more formally known as GBH, have been carried out by five children, which included a 5 year-old. Moreover, two children between these ages have been held responsible for committing acts of robberies. Overall, 54 children are responsible for violent offences, 15 have been found committing theft, and 28 more for perpetrating criminal damage.
Children in this age gap (four to nine years old) cannot be charged with a crime and arrested because the age of criminal responsibility is 10 in England. Other punishments such as a Local Child Curfew and a Child Safety Order can be handed to children under 10 who break the law given that their behaviors have visible signs of being anti-social and sociopathic. Regular offense can hold these children's parents responsible under the law as well.
"It is important to understand that when very young children come into contact with the police, it is not a criminal matter but a welfare issue.", the source quoted Andrew Neilson, Director of Campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform. He made this statement in response to these figures.
He further stated that the police are not the ideal agency for handling children. There are other agencies who are in a much more qualified position to support very young children and guide them in order for them not to grow up breaking the law regularly. These figures, he said, we also supposed to be regarded as highly sensitive considering that they belong under the age of criminal responsibility.
Moreover, a spokesman for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) added that these children who have been accused of sexual offenses have also been victims of trauma and abuse themselves, usually perpetrated by their own parents or relatives. Any kind of exposure is critical to the learning age of a child, and as a result, they are learning that these things are OK. He further added that online porn has an effect too.
Since 2009, there are almost 800 children who have committed sex crimes against other youngsters, according to the figures obtained by The Daily Mirror.