Information related to offences committed by children aged under 16: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/02928  
Date received: 14 October 2018 
Date responded: 6 November 2018

 

Information requested

 

1. Total number of offences committed by children aged under 16 in Scotland for the years 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and (if possible) 2017-18.
2. Total number of recorded violent crimes committed by children aged under 16 for the years 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and (if possible) 2017-18.
3. Total number of referrals to the Children’s Reporter in Scotland for the years 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and (if possible) 2017-18.
4. Clarification of the reasons why this information is no longer (apparently) available to the public in Scotland and has not been since the 2013-14 statistics whilst comparable information for England and Wales is available up to 2016-17?

Response

1-2. The information you requested was previously published in the Scottish Policing Performance Framework Annual Report https://www.gov.scot/Publications/2013/11/6914/downloads. 

This publication was based on data supplied by legacy Police Forces and has not been available since the formation of Police Scotland in April 2013.

Queries about this data should be made directly to Police Scotland.

We are however, able to provide you with information on number of offences proceeded against in court where the accused was under 16 years old. Note that this is only a subset of all offences recorded where the accused is under 16 years old.

Total number of crimes and offences proceeded in Scottish courts, where the accused was under 16 years old, 2014-15 to 2016-17.

	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Non-sexual crimes of violence	9	10	14
Sexual crimes	2	11	5
Crimes of dishonesty	3	13	19
Fire-raising, vandalism, etc.	8	3	2
Other crimes	10	13	14
Miscellaneous offences	16	18	12
Motor vehicle offences	6	3	6
Total crimes and offences proceeded	54	71	72

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database.

Information for 2017-18 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2017-18 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in early 2019.    

3-4. The information you have requested is available from the Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration website: https://www.scra.gov.uk/. Official statistics from 2012-13 to 2017-18 can be found under the ‘Resources’ section.  There is an interactive Online Statistical Dashboard as well as downloadable tables containing referrals information. 

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you.  If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) is an independent agency and if you have any further questions regarding public availability of their statistics then you may wish to contact their FOI team directly at inforequest@scra.gsi.gov.uk. More information on how to make a Freedom of Information request to SCRA is available on their FOI page - http://www.scra.gov.uk/about-scra/freedom-of-information/

 

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