For the first time, the Children’s Law Centre (CLC) hosted the Child Law Network in Belfast, bringing together children’s legal organisations, academics, practitioners and advocates from across the UK and Ireland to reflect on one of the most important questions facing children’s justice systems; when should a child become criminally responsible?

The event, ‘Childhood on Trial: Reflecting on the Age of Criminal Responsibility from Across the UK and Ireland’, was delivered by CLC on behalf of the Child Law Network, in partnership with the Centre for Children’s Rights at Queen’s University Belfast and the Ten is Too Young Coalition.

Efforts to raise the age of criminal responsibility is a long-standing global children’s rights issue, with UK and Ireland children’s organisations consistently calling for the age to be raised to improve outcomes for children in conflict with the law. Current ages across the UK and Ireland range from 10 to 12 years old, some of the lowest in the world.

A conversation Grounded in Evidence

The event was opened by Professor Bronagh Byrne, Director of the Centre for Children’s Rights at Queen’s University Belfast and John O’Doherty, Chief Executive of the Children’s Law Centre.

The first panel, chaired by Professor Byrne, considered the evidence for change, bringing together perspectives from criminology, forensic child and adolescent psychiatry and community practice.

Dr Mary-Louise Corr, Dr Phil Anderson, Dr Kate Laverty and Pete Wray explored the evidence behind calls for reform, including what we know about children’s development, the circumstances in which children come into contact with the justice system and approaches that can better respond to children’s needs.

Learnings from Other Jurisdictions

Fergal McFerran, CLC’s Policy and Public Affairs Manager, chaired a series of presentations and discussion exploring developments across the UK and Ireland.

Niamh McCormack of the Irish Penal Reform Trust provided a perspective from Ireland, where the age of criminal responsibility is generally 12, with exceptions for certain serious offences involving children aged 10 and 11. Ireland raised its age from seven to 12 in 2006.

Scotland provided another important point of comparison. Its age of criminal responsibility was raised from eight to 12 under the Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act 2019, which was fully commenced in 2021. A Scottish Government review of the operation of the legislation was published in December 2025.

The event heard from Professor Lesley McAra and Alison Reid on Scotland, Shauneen Lambe of the Youth Justice Legal Centre on England, and Dr Rhian Croke of Children’s Legal Centre Wales. In England and Wales, the age remains 10.

The different experiences provided an opportunity to look beyond the question of the age itself and consider what happens when the law changes. What systems are needed to support children? What alternatives to criminalisation are available? What evidence can tell us about the impact of reform?

Northern Ireland: Majority Secured, Progress Failed

Northern Ireland recently debated whether to raise the age of criminal responsibility after decades of campaigning from leading children’s organisations.

Recommendations to raise the age had been included repeatedly in the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s concluding observations and then in the Youth Justice Review of 2011. In 2022, the Department of Justice consulted on a proposal to raise the MACR from 10 to 14, following a report ‘Tracing the Review: Developments in Youth Justice in Northern Ireland 2011-2021’ drafted by Dr Siobhán McAlister and Professor Nicola Carr.

In 2026, led by the Ten is Too Young Coalition, calls were renewed for the age to be raised to 16, without exceptions, as part of Northern Ireland’s justice bill. The bill provided a significant opportunity for change, with a number of amendments tabled during its consideration, including proposals to raise the age to 12, 14 and 16, with different approaches to exceptions.

While an amendment seeking to raise the age to 14 with some exceptions found majority support, a veto mechanism called the petition of concern was deployed to block any legislative change. The Ten is Too Young Coalition called the use of the veto an abuse of the mechanism.

Bringing the Conversation Together

The Child Law Network exists to strengthen collaboration between organisations working on children’s legal rights. Its members include leading children’s legal organisations from across the UK, working together to promote best practice, influence policy and law, identify opportunities for strategic litigation and develop cross jurisdictional learning.

CLC and the Centre for Children’s Rights at Queen’s University Belfast were delighted to host the network in Belfast. It provided an opportunity to bring different experiences together at a significant moment for children’s rights in Northern Ireland.

The event closed with reflections from Chris Quinn, the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People.