Children need a guiding hand

FIGURES THAT show hundreds of children under the age of 10 have been responsible for crimes in Tayside and Fife over the past two years are deeply concerning, despite some ambiguity.

In Scotland the age of criminal responsibility was raised from eight to 12 last year. Although children under 12 cannot be prosecuted for any criminal activity, those over the age of eight will have the details kept on their criminal record.

Figures released by Tayside and Fife Police show that children as young as three have been held responsible for crimes of shoplifting and vandalism. Older children committed offences including indecent exposure and carrying a blade.

Although it is ridiculous to expect any three-year-old to carry out a crime with any sort of malicious forethought, many of these incidents are simply too serious to overlook.

The number of incidents make it clear that many parents are failing not only to control their children at a young age but also to instill a sense of right and wrong or civic responsibility.

Two years ago Scotland’s Children’s Commissioner, Tam Baillie, warned that keeping criminal records for children over eight risked criminalising children and would make them more likely to commit further offences.

That danger still exists. The question is how to deal with these young offenders.

If parents are unwilling or unable to control their children’s behaviour, then it falls to social services, which are already stretched, to intervene.

Nevertheless, intervene they must. Children under 10 are simply too young to be branded as criminals. Children committing crimes is not a sign that society is collapsing, but a call for society to step in and provide the care these children need – and keep them on the straight and narrow.