Government of Jersey

Number of cruelty to children cases (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey and published on 12 June 2023.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

Request

Please provide the total number of recorded cruelty to children and young person offences (Home Office offence code: 11A) for the periods 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

Please provide the total number of victims broken down by age (by individual year of age where possible otherwise please provide it grouped into: 0-5, 6-10, 11-15 and 16-17).

Response

The relevant legislation in Jersey is the Children Law (Jersey) 2002, specifically Article 35(1).

Article 35 of the Children (Jersey) Law 2002 - Causing harm to or neglecting children under 16

(1) If any person who has responsibility for a child under the age of 16 intentionally or

recklessly –

(a) causes any harm to that child;

(b) exposes the child to a risk of harm; or

(c) neglects the child in a manner likely to cause the child harm, the person shall be guilty

of an offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of 10 years and to a fine.

The total number of recorded cruelty to children / young person offences (Home Office offence code: 11A) for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 is 17.

The total number of victims broken down by age grouped into 0-5, 6-10, 11-15 and 16-17) is as follows:

Age of child	Number of victims
0-5	13
6-10	6
11-15	7
16-17	0
Total	26

¹ Offences under Article 35 of the Children (Jersey) Law 2002 relate to a child under the age of 16 years.

In order to prevent the identification of individuals the victim information has been grouped into age groups rather than provide information by individual year of age. Article 25 (Personal Information) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has therefore been applied.

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.