"They chopped him." Those three words from the parents of Shawn Seesahai starkly describe their teenage son's death at the hands of two machete-wielding boys aged just 12, during a confrontation in a park in Wolverhampton, England.
So, are murderers getting younger? Broadly speaking, the answer is 'yes'.
Figures from the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the percentage of homicide convictions going to under-16s compared with other ages doubled over 10 years, from about one in 50 in 2012/13 to one in 25 in 2022/23.
Sky News reports that the 2022/23 figure is the highest since at least 2008/09. But they caveat – since the percentage of under-16s is low overall, the averages can be heavily skewed by relatively few convictions.
In this podcast, former major crime detective Jacques Morrell is joined by broadcaster Karl Cooper. They look at three murders carried out by children and discuss how the law balances retribution and rehabilitation.
Acknowledgements We are grateful to the following news organisations for the illustrative clips used in this podcast:
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