The Association of Youth Offending Team Managers is to push for an increase in the age of criminal responsibility.
At last week's annual general meeting, youth offending team managers unanimously voted that the age of 10 is too young, and called for ways of realising that moral development of young people varies from person to person.
The chair of the association, Pauline Batstone, said that although bad behaviour should be punished, it should not automatically have to go through the courts. "Putting resources into preventive work is a far more effective use of time and money in the long term," she added.
