Age of Criminal Responsibility Advisory Group minutes: March 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Ms Natalie Don (Chair), Minister for Children and Young People
• Lesley Swanson, Bairns Hoose Unit, Scottish Government
• Carron McKellar, Police Scotland
• Martin Dorchester, Includem
• Susan McVie, Education Scotland
• Fiona Steel, Action for Children
• Fiona Dyer, Children’s and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ)
• Jillian Ingram, COSLA
• Laura Buchan, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
• Stephen Bermingham, Children’s Hearings Scotland
• Alastair Hogg, Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA)
• Carol Eden, Victim Support Scotland
• Rachel Grant, Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service
• Katy Nisbet, Child Clan
• Marie-Louise Fox, Scottish Legal Aid Board
• Megan Farr, Children and Young People’s Commissioner
• Sharon Glasgow, Social Work Scotland
• Lesley McAra, Edinburgh Law school
• Neill Mitchell, Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA)

Scottish Government

• Tom MacNamara, Youth Justice and Children’s Hearings Unit, Scottish Government
• Ian Donaldson, Deputy Director for Children’s Rights Protection and Justice, Scottish Government
• Kenzy Thomson, Children’s Hearing Advocacy and Age of Criminal Responsibility Review team
• Mel Parkinson, Children’s Hearing Advocacy and Age of Criminal Responsibility Review team
• Pam Semple, Children’s Hearing Advocacy and Age of Criminal Responsibility Review team
• Athena Lynch, Children’s Hearing Advocacy and Age of Criminal Responsibility Review team

Apologies

• Jillian Gibson, COSLA
• Diana Dobbie, National Youth Justice Advisory Group
• Elliot Jackson, Children’s Hearings Scotland
• Anna Donnelly, Social Work Scotland
• Juliet Harris, Together Scotland
• Lorna Aitken, Education Scotland
• Mick Doyle, Scottish Community Development Centre

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

The chair welcomed members to the meeting and apologies were noted from those unable to attend.

Minutes and actions from last meeting

Members of the group were content with the note of the previous meeting and all outstanding actions were completed.

Learning event 2024

The age of criminal responsibility second Learning Event took place on 30 January 2024. The event focussed on the key themes identified from the previous year and a variety of key note speakers presented throughout the day.  There were table discussions throughout the day relating to specific parts of the Act and the operational challenges of any future increase in age. A full report on the feedback and findings from the discussions will be issued in advance of the next advisory group meeting.

Data and Research Subgroup progress to date

Fiona Dyer, chair of the Data and Research subgroup presented on the work of the group. The group last met in February 2024 and reviewed the current data papers collated over the course of the review period.

CYCJ data paper 2024

An updated version of the CYCJ data paper was issued in advance of the meeting.  The paper provides an outline of all detected crimes in Scotland that are alleged to have been committed by children. This is followed by the reporter’s decisions on offence referrals and then charges reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). The paper provides an overall summary of the data on non-court disposals, court proceedings and convictions across all ages and age of criminal responsibility groupings for the most recent year available 2022-2023.

Engagement with European countries

Fiona provided an update on the further engagement with colleagues from Sweden to discuss their approach to age of criminal responsibility .  The case study report paper had been updated further with the Swedish context and was circulated in advance of the meeting.

Information regarding Sweden was gained from a face-to-face discussion with political representatives for the Social Democratic Party of Sweden at a meeting on 11 January 2024. The age of criminal responsibility in Sweden is set at 15 and has been for many decades.

Due to the increased gang related violence in Sweden, the new government are working on reducing the age of criminal responsibility for those that are connected to gang related crime. In the last 10 years, Sweden has been seen a rise in  gang violence and shootings. In 2017, 36 fatal shootings were recorded, which jumped to 62 in 2022.  In 2023 the total number of fatal shootings decreased slightly, to 53.

In Portugal, the age of criminal responsibility is 16. There is no public or political debate on the minimum age of criminal responsibility issue at present. However, there were  elections for Parliament in March 2024 and the issue has arisen for discussion since there has been a major shift in juvenile and young adult crimes becoming much more violent. The significant rise in juvenile delinquency and young adult crime is not only in terms of rates of crime, but particularly concerning the violence used to commit crimes, especially in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The number of homicides and attempted homicides committed by young people, and particularly young adults (aged 16-21) has significantly increased in these last three years – particularly knife crime, and in the last 1.5 years, homicide with guns.

SCRA data paper 2024

Fiona provided an update on the SCRA paper that was issued to members in advance of the meeting. SCRA were asked to profile children referred on offence grounds over the past few years by whether the behaviour in the offence is likely to come within the test in section 39 of the Age of Criminal Responsibility Act that:

by behaving in a violent or dangerous way, the child has caused or risked causing serious physical harm to another person, or

by behaving in a sexually violent or sexually coercive way, the child has caused or risked causing harm (whether physical or not) to another person.

The first task required was to identify which offences could come within the test. As there was no pre-defined list, SCRA shared alleged offences received with Police Scotland and Social Work Scotland to seek their expertise. SCRA  met in February 2024 to review the mapping and to identify what future research can be carried out.

There are gaps in the data however available evidence shows that numbers of children referred to SCRA have reduced over the years. 

Community Confidence Subgroup progress to date

Fiona Steel, chair of the community confidence subgroup provided an update on the work of the group.

Scottish Government officials held a consultation workshop with the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) to gather views and understanding on the age of criminal responsibility.  

The questions asked were:

what age should children and young people be held responsible for their actions?

What age do you think the age of criminal responsibility should be? - Why do you think that?

When a child has caused harm to others, are you aware of the support that is available to the child, victim, families, and the public?

In addition to the support that is already in place, is there anything missing that you think would help support the child, victim, families and the public?

How can we involve children and young people in a meaningful way within this area?

A survey was also published on this and there were 154 responses.  The information gathered showed that age 12 was the highest response  with 77% and the second most common age was 14-15 with 9% and age 16 With 7%.

There haves been challenges trying to secure engagement with Age UK.  It was suggested that action for children facilitate focus groups which could be used to engage with communities. An opportunity has arisen to hold focus groups in Stornoway around age of criminal responsibility which is being considered. Once the group have the feedback from the survey and time to digest it, it will be beneficial to follow up on the results and identify any gaps that the group can pick up on.  

Scottish Government colleagues have sourced an organisation to take forward a survey on age of criminal responsibility . Questions were developed on the back of the Scottish Youth Parliament questions which have been issued to the organisation for publishing.The survey results will be collated into a report and an update will be provided to this group at the next meeting.  

Review progress and next steps

There is only nine months remaining of the review period for the Act. The next advisory group meeting is scheduled for the 26 June 2024 and will focus on the work of the Operational Implications and victim support subgroups. The meeting in October 2024 will focus on the report which will be submitted to Scottish Ministers by the end of 2024 to help inform any decision on the future age of criminal responsibility.

Any other business

The chair provided an update stage 3 of the Children’s Care and Justice Bill which will take place  at the end of April 2024. There has been ongoing work between officials and different policy areas due to some changes that were established as a result of stage 2 debate.  

Actions

The Learning Event Report to be completed and issued to the group in advance of the next meeting. 

Secretariat to set up shared space on eRDM Connect to allow members to comment on working documents for this group.

Group members to provide comments on the community confidence subgroup papers before the next meeting and send to the secretariat.

The draft survey questions to be amended following discussion at the meeting.  

Secretariat to organise next Advisory Group meeting in Edinburgh in June 2024.