No jail for under-25s is charter for misdeeds

Sir, – People under the age of 25 should not be jailed because their brains are not fully mature, according to new draft guidelines from the Scottish Sentencing Council,

Children aged 12 and over are regarded as capable of making life-changing decisions like changing gender or having an abortion.

Schools are preaching a children’s rights message that often amounts to treating children as equal to adults in authority.

But when it comes to responsibility for their actions, the opposite is assumed.

“Getting away with murder” is usually just a figure of speech, but it’s not too far wide of the mark here.

The fact that young people (especially male) tend to be more reckless and irresponsible means that the deterrent effect of punishment is more important, not less.

In later life self-control and consideration develop more fully.

That’s when deterrence becomes less important.

Do we want to give every under 25-year-old a ready-made excuse for bad behaviour? Surely not.

How does this sound? “We’re very sorry that your daughter was raped and murdered, but the man who did it is only 24, so we mustn’t be too hard on him.

“His brain isn’t fully developed after all.”

At the heart of this madness is faith in the “noble savage”: the assumption that people are intrinsically good and only do wrong because of factors beyond their control.

Personal moral responsibility is buried under an avalanche of off-the-shelf excuses.

Richard Lucas. Leader of The Scottish Family Party, Glasgow.

In 2018, the deal with the Greens promised extra money for councils.

Has that stopped the roads being full of potholes, great big puddles in the road because the drains have not been cleared, or in Edinburgh Council’s case, nursery teachers being shown the door?

No, of course not.

Phil Tate. Craiglockhart Road, Edinburgh.