Conviction rate nearly doubles in a decade

More than 2,800 young offenders aged between 10 and 12 were convicted of crimes in England and Wales in 2007 – an 87 per cent rise in 10 years.

They included 142 violent children, 66 found guilty of driving offences, 26 sex offenders, 217 burglars and 141 robbers.

Drug offences landed 22 pre-teens in court – a 1,000 per cent rise on 1997 – while 710 were convicted of theft and handling stolen goods and 226 were found guilty of causing criminal damage.

Conviction numbers have soared in line with the introduction of tougher sentencing for criminals aged 12 and under.

In 10 years, the number of community sentences handed to pre-teens more than trebled, from 453 in 1997 to 1,398 in 2007.

The number of conditional discharges for pre-teens fell dramatically over the same period, from 578 to 62, while sixteen children aged 12 and under were locked up immediately after being convicted in 2007.

PRE-TEEN CRIME 1997 – 2007

Number of defendants aged 10 to 12 convicted of each type of crime in 1997 and 2007

1997 2007 %change

Drug offences

2 22 UP 1,000%

Criminal damage

101 226 UP 124%

Robbery

68 141 UP 107%

Violence against the person

73 142 UP 95%

Motoring offences

39 66 UP 69%

Sexual offences

16 26 UP 63%