Longfield, who is now chair of the Commission on Young Lives, said the proposals, devised by Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, must account for the complexity of terrorism cases involving children and called for the introduction of further measures to tackle the root causes of child-offending.
Longfield said: "While protecting the public from harm must always be the top priority, other than in very extreme cases, we should be looking at every option available to divert these young people away from the criminal justice system.”
The proposals mean that under-17s arrested for lower-level offences would have an alternative to prosecution and imprisonment.
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