Crooks up to 21 should be spared court, says expert

Social affairs correspondent

Tuesday 6 September 2011

SCOTLAND'S "czar" for young people is to call for criminals aged between 16 and 21 to be spared court and dealt with by a system closer to children's hearings.

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Stephen Naysmith Social affairs correspondent

In a speech tonight Tam Baillie will claim the creation of career criminals could be prevented if young offenders were addressed in a more holistic way, without damaging their chances of reforming.

Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People will tell the Apex Scotland lecture tonight at Edinburgh’s Signet Library that it would help fulfil Scotland’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that children should not be put in adult prisons.

Mr Baillie said a change to the system had been recommended by the McLeish Scottish Prisons Commission in 2008, but the suggestion was never acted on.That commission called for the Government to look at the possibility of extending children’s hearings – which deal broadly with under-16s – to cover all 16 and 17-year-olds.Mr Baillie will argue it might not be realistic for the system to take on all 16 to 21-year-olds, but an alternative to the adult court system and adult custody should be sought for young people in the “transition to adulthood”.“Not sending youngsters to custody doesn’t mean you don’t remove some youngsters from the community – that is why we have secure care,” he added. “Just as in many aspects of life, these youngsters are in transition and if we have courts which can deal with that transition into adulthood, much as the Children’s Hearing System does, there is a chance of diverting them from a lifetime of offending and custody.”Mr Baillie will warn that while children’s commissioners in other parts of the UK are impressed with Scotland’s system, there is limited evidence for the outcomes it achieves. A key issue is that young people who have a background in the care system are still disproportionately represented in prisons and the homeless population, he will claim. “When I was manager of Glasgow’s Stopover [homeless hostel] in 1986, half of the children we accommodated had been in care. Last year I phoned them up and that figure is still the same. In 24 years, we haven’t moved,” Mr Baillie said. Bernadette Monaghan, National Convener of Children’s Hearings Scotland said she agreed with the need to prevent young people in the hearing system “progressing” to the adult criminal justice system.She added: “We know, anecdotally, that a lot of looked-after children or young people end up in prison. The latest annual Scottish Prisoner Survey should give us more firm evidence on this, as questions have been included to gauge numbers of previously looked-after children in custody.”She said any change in approach would need more specialist resources to tackle young people about their behaviour, and called for more use of restorative justice.Former Labour first minister Henry McLeish said the commission had felt a greater role for children’s hearings might be appropriate. “A more punitive approach is not entirely appropriate for young people at a very formative stage in their lives. If they have committed crimes there needs to be a system of punishment, but we suggested the age limit for children’s hearings should be reviewed upward,” he said.A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Our Reducing Reoffending Programme recognises the importance of the children’s hearing system for young people aged under 18 where appropriate.“For under 18s who can’t be diverted from the criminal justice process, we must place emphasis on supporting them through this route, ensuring that robust alternatives to remand or custodial sentences are available to the sheriff.”

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Crooks up to 21 should be spared court, says expert

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