HL Deb 12 July 1999 vol 604 cc6-7WA
Lord Dholakia

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many offenders respectively aged 10 to 13, 10 to 16 and 10 to 17 inclusive were found guilty of (a) murder and (b) manslaughter in each year from 1979 to 1998. [HL3418]

Lord Williams of Mostyn

The information for England and Wales and Scotland is given in the table.

Data for Northern Ireland are available only front 1993 to 1997. In this period, for those known to be aged between 10 and 17 inclusive, only one person in 1997 was convicted of manslaughter and nobody was convicted of murder.

Country/offence 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 19981
England and Wales Persons aged 10–13
Murder — — — — 2 2 — — — —
Manslaughter2 — 1 — 1 1 — — 1 — 1
Persons aged 10–16
Murder 5 8 7 4 13 10 10 26 26 10
Manslaughter2 9 2 8 5 6 3 6 5 3 7
Persons aged 10–17
Murder 11 11 13 11 23 16 10 26 26 10
Manslaughter2 23 9 15 8 13 8 7 8 10 19
Scotland Persons aged 10–13
Murder 1 — — — — — — — — n/a
Culpable homicide3 — 1 1 — 1 — — — 1 n/a
Persons aged 10–16
Murder 2 2 2 3 — 2 4 8 7 n/a
Culpable homicide3 1 4 4 5 7 1 2 4 3 n/a
Persons aged 10–17
Murder 2 2 2 8 — 6 6 12 8 n/a
Culpable homicide3 1 4 5 6 8 5 5 6 6 n/a
1 Data for England and Wales are provisional.
2 Manslaughter offences under Common Law, Offences against the Person Act, 1861, sec. 5, 9 and 10 and Homicide Act 1957, sec. 2.
3 Common Law offence of Culpable Homicide is the Scottish equivalent to manslaughter.
na = not available.