On Thursday, the Northern Ireland Department of Justice published a summary of various responses pertaining to increasing the minimum age of criminal responsibility. Former Justice Minister Naomi Long headed a 12-week public consultation in October 2022, where respondents gave their views on whether the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) should be increased from 10 to 14 years old, which would meet the UN’s international children’s standards.

The Department of Justice published its first framework in March 2022, which outlined a progressive youth justice system that included increasing the MACR and “diverting” children from the criminal justice system by using a collaborative grassroots approach. Currently, Northern Irelands MACR is ten years of age which is the same as England and Wales but lower than other countries across Europe, such as Denmark, which has a MACR of 15 years. Data from the published summary suggests that the initial framework has successfully lowered the amount of 10 to 17-year-olds being prosecuted. Despite this, out of the 455 responses submitted in the public consultation, 83.7 percent agreed that the MACR should be raised beyond ten years old, and most agreed with the proposal to increase the MACR to 14 years. Less than 10 percent wished to see no change to the current MACR. Previous attempts have examined Northern Ireland’s MACR, but these attempts fell through due to a lack of political support.

Long told the BBC that she was “pleased” that the public backed the proposal and will begin to use the consultation as a starting point to inform the executive to make a change so Northern Ireland can meet international standards.