Minimum Age Of Criminality Set To Rise In Scotland

Plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility in Scotland – at present the second lowest in Europe – received widespread backing yesterday.

Children’s charities, social workers and the Scottish Police Federation welcomed the news that Scottish Ministers are to increase the age at which children are deemed criminally competent from 8 to 12 or 14.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) has recommended that the age in Scotland should be raised considerably and Ministers are understood to accept that a change in the law is necessary.

At present only the Republic of Ireland, at 7 , has a lower age of criminal responsibility. In England and Wales the minimum age is 10, in France it is 13 and in Spain 16.

If the change goes through, a child under 12 who broke the law would have to be dealt with under the welfare-based Children’s Hearing System rather than the adult penal system.

The argument is academic rather than practical. Because Scotland has a welfare-based system of child justice, the age at which criminality starts is largely symbolic.

Police statistics released under the Freedom of Information Act show that 8 to 11-year-olds are responsible for nearly 5,000 alleged crimes each year in Scotland. Of these, only about 200 are referred to the Procurator Fiscal, and it is extremely rare for a case to go to a criminal court.

The Scottish government has published a response to the UNCRC recommendations, which is out for consultation until March 2. In it, the government says it will reflect on the comments from the UN and the points raised in a Scottish parliamentary debate last year on the age of criminal responsibility.

Last November, the cabinet secretaries for education and justice confirmed to MSPs that the issue of criminal responsibility was being considered, along with a recommendation from the Scottish Law Commission that the age be raised to 12. In the same month, Elish Angiolini, the Lord Advocate, told a Holyrood committee that she believed the current age was too low. “I do not prosecute children where it can be avoided,” she said.

Andrew Girvan, the director of children’s service for the charity Action for Children Scotland, said that he fully supported a rise in the age of criminal competence. “I’m heartened by the fact this is a really positive response,” he said.

He said the big challenge was to break the cycle whereby neglected children ended up as the next generation of criminals. There was a need “to see children as children”, who were blighted by learned behaviour and a lack of love and attention. “This is one step to dealing with these issues on a more positive footing,” he added.

Calum Steele, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “The reality is that police officers are themselves parents and have very strong views on whether 9-year-olds are capable of being criminals. What will be key is that the focus will move from the police as the lead agency towards other support agencies.”

Michelle Miller, from the Association of Directors of Social Work, said: “We would welcome the move and hope that what goes along with it – all the resources and support and strategies to address the problems of children – would be hand in hand with it. Very young children need support if they are going to behave the way we want them to behave.”