Crimes age 1-9 - 132/18

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

I recently made an FOI request asking for figures on child crime. I would now like to follow that up with a fresh request.

 Could you please disclose the number of cases where a child under the age of criminal responsibility (aged 1 - 9) was linked to a violent crime as a suspect/offender from January 2016 to January 2018, giving the age recorded at the time and where possible the nature of the offence.

 

In Response:

We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention.

 Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Corporate Development Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police.

 With the below in mind, I am able to disclose the located information to you as attached.

 Data has been collated through a search of all crimes created between 01/01/2016 and 28/01/2018 where the outcome given to the crime is 'offender under 10.' The offences included are all those classified by the Home Office as Violence against the Person.   The age of the offender is the age they were at the time of the offence.  Occasionally the outcome has been used where the offender is aged 10 or over but has a mental capacity age of below 10.  These have been included so the figures are comparable with FOI 1267/17 but we have listed them separately. 

 Please note that this data is likely to include incidents where a named offender is later eliminated without further action. I ask that this is considered should you wish to use this data.