Youth Justice News
| Published date | 01 August 2021 |
| Date | 01 August 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14732254211011792 |
| Subject Matter | News |
https://doi.org/10.1177/14732254211011792
Youth Justice
2021, Vol. 21(2) 241 –252
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/14732254211011792
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Youth Justice News
Tim Bateman
Eighty-Five Per Cent of Children and Young People Surveyed
in Scotland Consider That the Minimum Age of Criminal
Responsibility Should Be Higher Than 12 Years
In 2012, the Scottish government made a commitment to consider raising the minimum
age of criminal responsibility (MACR), which had stood at 8 years since 1932, and estab-
lished an Advisory Group to reflect on the implications of raising the threshold for crimi-
nal proceedings to 12 years. The Advisory Group reported in March 2016 and concluded
that the statutory change should be made at the earliest opportunity. A public consultation
ensued in which more than 95 per cent of respondents indicated support for a MACR of
12 years or older and, in March 2018, the government introduced legislation to that effect.
The Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act was passed with the overwhelming
support of Members of the Scottish Parliament in May 2019 and the Act received Royal
Assent on 11 June of that year.
By April 2021, almost half of the provisions contained within the statute had been
implemented. These include section 3, which prevents children below the age of 12 years
being referred to the Children’s Hearing system (the mechanism whereby children in need
of care and protection and those who have offended can be made subject of compulsory
intervention) on offence grounds. However, section 1, which states simply that: ‘A child
under the age of 12 years cannot commit an offence’, was not one of those provisions that
had been brought into force. An information briefing, published in January 2021 by the
Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice, notes that the government is currently
working towards full implementation of the Act by autumn 2021. In consequence, the
MACR in Scotland currently remains 8 years and the police can still charge children aged
between 8 and 11. The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland has called
this failure to implement the increase ‘unacceptable’ and pointed out that, while a child
under 12 years of age cannot be prosecuted, charges can continue to appear on disclosure
certificates, potentially impacting on ‘education options and the jobs they might be able
to get, even after they reach adulthood’.
Corresponding author:
Tim Bateman, School of Applied Social Studies, University of Bedfordshire, University Square, Luton LU1 3JU, UK.
Email: tim.bateman@beds.ac.uk
1011792YJJ0010.1177/14732254211011792Youth JusticeBateman
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