WATERVILLE – The filing of an arson charge against a 10-year-old girl is stirring a debate on how young is too young for children to face criminal charges.

The girl, whose name has not been made public, was charged after a blaze Sunday that burned the outside of an apartment house. Police say the girl set the fire with a lighter but won’t talk to investigators.

District Attorney Evert Fowle said police did the right thing in charging the girl because now the door is open to getting her the counseling she might need.

“If we can intervene early in the life of a 10-year-old, so this juvenile does not become an accomplished criminal when she is older, it is much better for everyone,” Fowle said. “Our focus will be made on trying to help her, not trying to punish her.”

But the president of the Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said bringing a criminal charge against somebody that young is “incredibly disturbing” and shows a lack of awareness about how the juvenile justice system works.

Walter McKee said police should have referred the case to the Department of Health and Human Services, not the criminal justice system.

“Ten-year-old children aren’t prosecuted, much less tried – it just isn’t done,” McKee said. “Every situation involving children of this age committing what would be crimes if they were adults are dealt with by DHHS, not the juvenile justice system. You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who has dealt with a case like this because they just aren’t brought.”

Investigators attempted to interview the girl after Sunday’s fire, but she wouldn’t talk, said Waterville Deputy Police Chief Joseph Massey.

Filing charges brings the case “one more step” toward possible counseling and an investigation into the fire, he said. The girl was released to her mother’s custody.

Longtime defense lawyer and one-time prosecutor Walter Hanstein III said any child can be charged with a juvenile offense, no matter how young. But it is “extremely rare” to bring charges against a 10-year-old.

“Generally, someone this young would be released back to her parents and the matter would be dealt with informally, with some kind of basic contract between the juvenile and her parents and the juvenile community corrections officer,” he said.