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Policing and Crime Bill

We spent a lot of time on our report. One of the reasons why we recommended no age limit of 18 was that street gangs, as defined in places such as America, Liverpool and Glasgow, consist of people ranging from children of 11 to men of 26. It is crucial to use civil orders to deal with those people in order to take them out of the gangs. If we wait until they are 18 and on a criminal charge, we shall have to wait until they have done what they intend to do, which will make the position much more dangerous.