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 would like a breakdown of incidents recorded by the police force as crimes allegedly perpetrated by people under the age of criminal responsibility against people under the age of criminal responsibility.
This can include all incidents in which these details have been logged even if they are not followed by any charges being brought against parents/guardians/third parties.
In England and Wales I understand the age of criminal responsibility to be 10 years old and as eight years old in Scotland.
Please could you provide a log of incidents that fit this criteria for the 2019, 2018 and 2017 (January to December) and the ages recorded for the alleged perpetrators and victims (if possible)?
I would also like a breakdown of the type of offence recorded in each instance, ie. murder, assault, weapons offences, drug offences, sexual assault etc.
In Response:
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted within Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police.
I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows with the below noted.
This breakdown details crimes against individuals under 10 that have been perpetrated, or possibly perpetrated, by those over 10 as per the rules on the age of criminal responsibility.
These rules can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/age-of-criminal-responsibility
One crime may have multiple victims, or multiple perpetrators, or both.
If the date of birth is not entered on either side, then we cannot provide information based off the age .
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would expect that you to take into consideration the factors highlighted above so as not to mislead members of the public or official bodies or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.
With all the above in mind, please see the below.
| Age | Victims | Perpetrators |
| 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | 1 | 1 |
| Offence Types | Count |
| Rape of a male child under 13 by a male | 2 |
| Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (malicious wounding) | 2 |
| Cruelty or neglect of children | 2 |
| Inflicting grievous bodily harm, without intent | 1 |
