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What did I find from this:

- My research into the case studies was done through the books when kids kill and destroying the baby in themselves, from these I found the details of the crime but also the reasons why the children involved commited the crimes, this allowed me to evaluate the age of criminal responsibilty using the reasons why children commit crimes as a reason to reduce the age as many children do not understand that they have done something which is considered to be wrong.

- I also applied my theorists to this, I found Piaget especially useful because this explained why children are unable to understand that they are acting wrongly.

- From the primary research that I carried out, where I questioned 10 random people; I found that many felt that aged 10 was too young to convict a child of a crime, however all of the people questioned, who felt 10 was too young changed their minds when asked if they felt the James Bulger killers should not have been charged based on their young age at the time. I also asked people if they were aware of what the age of criminal responsibility was and was shocked to find that only 6 out of 10 actually knew the correct age.

(See graphs presenting full results)

What I learnt:

What Reasearch I carried out:

- This project has helped me understand the importance of time management and spreading the work out so that I can write different sections of my essay at different times rather than all at once.

- I also think that the research process has helped me prepare for the kind of work I will have to carry out at university, and I have improved my ability to read large volumes of text and pick out the key information which was relevant to my question.

- Firstly I carried out background research as to what the current age of criminal responsibility was and how that differed to other countries.

- I also had to gather information on the two case studies I planned to use and reaseach different psychological theories which I could apply to the reasons why children commit crimes which I had investigated.

- I carried out some primary research by constructing a questionnaire, asking people about their awareness of the age of criminal responsibility and also their opinions on it.

Why I Chose this question:

EPQ Presentation

To what extent should the age of criminal responsibility be changed?

- I wanted to base my project on an issue relating to Law and the English Legal System. I originally proposed the question of "are juries an outdated concept" However I felt that this wouldnt allow me to reach the same amount of dept within evaluation as a question on the age of criminal responsibility would.

- I was interested in the Case Studies that I would be able to use within an EPQ on the age of criminal responsibility, I decided to reasearch into the cases of Mary Bell and the James Bulger killers, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson.

- As I want to study Law at University I wanted to base my EPQ on a law related subject.

Conclusions:

Writing the Essay:

My final product came to the conclusion that the age of criminal responsibility should be changed and that it should either be replaced or lowered. I came to this conclusion by carrying out research into the case studies of Mary Bell and the James Bulger killers, and looking at the different factors that caused those children to commit crimes. In order to see why children commited crimes I looked at the opinions of Psychological experts which had been interviewed for the book when kids kill and also applied theories such as moral understanding and cognitive development from Piaget. The case studies were the main focus of my investigation, but I also found that in order to form a judgement I needed to look into child crime stats and the alternatives for charging a child with a crime, I did this by watching a BBC News broadcast which gave me recent figures and also opinions from experts such as Shaunee Lambe.

Whilst writing my EPQ my findings were:

- It has been reported through a study undertaken in 2007 that nearly 3,000 crimes committed in a single year were committed by children under the age of 10. The figures show that 1,300 crimes of criminal damage were committed.

- I found out possible reasons why children commit crimes, such as their background which I linked to my case studies of Mary Bell and the James Bulger killers.

- I gathered opinions from experts on their views and what alternatives there are instead of prosecuting children, such as Shauneen Lambe who set up Just For Kids Law charity.

Strengths of the project:

- I found the books 'When Kids Kill' and 'Destroying the babies in themselves' really useful when researching my case studies and also gathering the opinions of experts on why kids kill.

- The topic was easy to research because I found a wide range of sources which I could use to add debate into my answer, these included books, News reports and internet articles, all of which I feel were fairly reliable.

Weaknesses of the project:

- I felt that my time management could have been improved because I left a large amount of time between completing my research and writing the essay which meant that I lost some resources and had to re-read alot of information before I started writing the essay.

- I struggled to condense the information I found especially on the case studies, and sometimes felt as though I was being too narrative and drifted away from the focus of the question.

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