FOI Crimes Committed by Under 10's (0190-2022/23)

Request

1. For the 2020-21 financial year please state how many crime outcomes were concluded by your force because the age of the suspect was under 10, and so below the level of criminal responsibility.

2. For each of these crime outcomes please provide me with a table showing:

• the age of the suspect and
• the crime associated with that child, which was not pursued because of their young age.

Response

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. 

I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police. 

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.

1. The table below shows the number of crimes where outcome 11 ‘prosecution prevented – suspect under age’ was applied because the suspect was under the age of 10 between 01 April 2020 and 31 March 2021.

Total number of NYP crimes with an outcome 11 applied where the child was under 10 years old (01.04.2020 – 31.03.2021)
Outcome	2020/2021
11-Prosecution prevented – suspect under age	94

2. i) The table below shows the age of the suspects for the crimes recorded by North Yorkshire Police between 01 April 2020 and 31 March 2021 with an outcome 11 applied where the suspect is under 10 years old.

Total number of NYP crimes with an outcome 11 applied where the child was under 10 years old, broken down by age of the suspect (01.04.2020 – 31.03.2021)
Suspect Age	2020/2021
4 and under	2
5	5
6	9
7	16
8	25
9	37
Total	94

2. ii) The table below shows the total number of crimes recorded with an outcome 11 – where the child was under 10 years old, broken down by crime type between 01 April 2020 and 31 March 2021.

Total number of NYP crimes with an outcome 11 applied where the child was under 10 years old, broken down by crime type (01.04.2020 – 31.03.2021)
Crime Type	2020/2021
Arson & Criminal Damage	10
Misc Crimes Against Society	4
Possession Of Weapons	4
Sexual Offences	11
Theft: All Other Theft	1
Theft: Shoplifting	10
Violence Against The Person	54
Total	94

Please note the tables have been disassociated pursuant to section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, to prevent the those involved in each case being identified due to the low numbers. Please see the exemption explanation below.

Exemption Explanation

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Section 40(2) – Personal Information

Section 40(2) is an absolute class based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle; in that processing of personal data must be lawful and fair (DPA 2018 35(1), EUGDPR Article 5(1)).

Where an individual can be identified by such data, releasing it would clearly breach the first data protection principle of being ‘fair’ to the data subject.

This exemption applies because the right given under the FOI Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In all the circumstances of the case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 2018 & EU General Data Protection Regulations, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure. In this instance, personal information can only be disclosed to the individual concerned.

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a refusal notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to part of your request.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.