New moves to decriminalise serious offences by under-16s
Liberal Democrat amendment to new Bill going through Scottish Parliament could see criminal age of responsibility raised from eight to 16
DOZENS of children and teenagers who commit serious offences in future, including rape, robbery and murder, will not face court or be criminalised, but could be dealt with in unreported proceedings by a panel of three lay people.
That’s the reality if a Liberal Democrat amendment to a Bill going through the Scottish Parliament raises the age of criminal responsibility, from the current age of eight, to 16. The move is supported by Scotland’s Children’s Commissioner, the Scottish Children’ s Reporter Administration and several children’ s charities.
The Holyrood Bill seeks to raise the responsibility age to 12 but, in a series of amendments, the LibDem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton is pressing the Government to set the new age at 16, but failing that at 14.
He said: “Twelve is an unacceptable age of criminal responsibility and would undermine our ambition for Scotland to be a leader in human rights. The Scottish Government must, at the very least, proceed with haste to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, with a view to increasing it to 16 once the necessary work has been done to accommodate that.”
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is in the process of updating its recommendations on the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 12, and is expected to set the age at 14 next month, commending states who set a higher age.
According to Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC, since 2011/12, almost 1,300 children aged 12 and 13 have been reported to the Crown Office. The vast majority were dealt with by children’s hearings under the reporter administration, where the three-member panel met in private and passed judgment, but 29 were subject to criminal proceedings, including six at the High Court and five before sheriff and jury. These more serious “solemn” cases, included a child charged with murder who was convicted of culpable homicide, an attempted murder, serious assaults and rape of younger children.
If the LibDem amendment is passed these cases would, in future, be heard by a children’s hearing, unless there is a change of law.
Although the age of criminal responsibility in Scotland is presently eight, the lowest in Europe, the minimum age of prosecution is 12, which means that any child of that age or up to 18 will face any serious charges in an adult court, although their identity cannot normally be disclosed.
Wolffe gave examples of crimes which could not have been prosecuted had the responsibility age been raised to 16, giving evidence to Holyrood’s Equality and Human Rights Committee. As well as the cases involving the 12 and 13-yearolds, 19,000 charges involving 14 and 15-year-olds had been reported to the Crown Office since 2011/12, almost 3,000 of which went to court. Of those, 47 were serious, “solemn”, cases, with 26 resulting in custodial sentences.
He told the committee: “The headline offences included serious assaults, robbery, rape, wilful fire- raising, attempted murder and culpable homicide.” He cautioned the committee against raising the age limit too far before equipping the system to deal with them “appropriately, confidently and indeed fairly”.
The Children’s Commissioner Bruce Adamson, before the same committee, argued that the age of responsibility should be 14, “with a view to raising it to 16”.
He said: “The UN is very clear that even 14 shouldn’t be a target, you should be looking further than that.”
At an earlier hearing, Malcolm Schaf- fer, head of practice and policy at the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, argued that the age could be raised to 16 and that the criminal justice system is not needed to “control behaviour”.
Morag Driscoll, convener of the Law Society of Scotland’s Family Law committee, said: “We have argued for years that the age of criminal responsibility is far too low in Scotland and the Bill will ensure we no longer have the lowest age of criminal responsibility in Europe. Raising the age to 12 will also bring this in line with the age at which a child can be prosecuted, providing much-needed clarity on criminal law as it relates to children.
“The exact age of criminal responsibility is a matter for Parliament to consider and while raising this beyond 12 may be desirable, it would require further careful consideration of the broader implications for the criminal justice system.”
Twelve is an unacceptable age of criminal responsibility