Hi there,
Thanks for sharing your question here. Yes, it is possible for a 15 year old child to be put into jail. But this would only happen if it was a serious case of breaking the law. Young people under the age of 21 would be placed in a young offenders institute and not an adult prison.
If the police suspect a young person of committing a crime and theyre over the age of 10 (or 12 in Scotland), they can arrest them. This means the young person would be taken to a police station and the police will ask them questions about what happened.
Breaking the law has different consequences. Once a young person has been questioned the police can let them go with a verbal warning, give them a caution, or arrange for them to be charged with a crime. You can look on Gov UK for more information about being charged with a crime.
Remember that you can talk to a counsellor any time they'd love to hear from you and it would be confidential. ChildLine wont tell anyone what you say, unless someones life is in danger or unless you tell us that you are seriously hurting or abusing another young person.
Hope this helps, you are really welcome to talk to a counsellor if you have any more questions.
Take care,
Sam
You can talk privately to a counsellor online or call 0800 1111 for free.
You can ask me about anything you want, there's nothing too big or small. I read every single letter but I can only answer a few each week. My replies are published here on my page.
