§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons recent criminal justice legislation has not removed or amended the assumption that a person aged from 10 to 14 years cannot be convicted of a crime without proof that he or she knew312W what they were doing was wrong; and if he will make a statement on the Law Lords' ruling of 16 March. [15388]
§ Mr. MacleanThe Government took the view in 1990—in the White Paper "Crime, Justice and Protecting the Public", Cm 965, paragraph 8.4—that the rebuttable presumption of doli incapax made
proper allowance for the fact that children's understanding, knowledge and ability to reason are still developingbetween the ages of 10 and 13.
Following the judgment of the House of Lords given on 16 March, the Government are now giving careful consideration to that judgment.