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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I certainly would not see a child who did not have the understanding of the allegation made against him. He is not someone whom one should be punishing in the sense that I was looking at punishment. However, there are children who offend who need to be told that this is unacceptable behaviour and that they have to answer for the consequences of what they have done. We cannot take welfare to take all children out of the criminal justice system, but there are out there many children who offend as a response to their appalling upbringing and dreadful background. Those children probably need help rather than punishment.