KEY CRITICISMS

● The use of adult courts for 16 and 17-year-olds.

● The length of time a criminal record follows young offenders into adult life (until they are 40 or for 20 years, whichever is longer).

● Most providers of secure care are reliant on market forces, while Polmont Young Offenders Institution is funded by the Scottish Government.

● The subsequent financial pressure to house children from English local authorities.

● The number of appeals against panel decisions that are subsequently upheld.

● Children report rarely seeing a social worker between hearings or formal meetings.

● The fact basic information about whether children attend their own hearings – and the reason for their absence – is not routinely recorded and reported.

● The fact that neither the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration or the Children’s Hearing System record information about the views of children or their parents, nor whether decisions taken accorded with the views of the children or their parents.