COMMENT

The SNP’S plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility in Scotland from eight to 12 do not go far enough and will still leave the country lagging behind the rest of the world, Scotland’s Children’s Commissioner has said.

Bruce Adamson said the Scottishgovernmentmust“go further, faster” on the issue, arguing that the age at which children could be held responsible for crimes should be set at around 15.

In her Programme for Government, Nicola Sturgeon said the SNP would bring forward a Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility Bill over the next year, bringing Scotland “in line with international norms”.

However, the Children’s Commissioner said that raising the age to 12 merely moved Scotland from “absolutely last to jointly at the bottom” of the international table, with many otherdevelopedcountriessetting it significantly higher.

In 2008 the UN Committee

“It strikes me as one of these things that is really strange, and really doesn’t sit with the many positive things in Scotland”

BRUCE ADAMSON