A new research report has been published ‘Children aged 12 to 15 years involved in offending and referred to the Children’s Reporter and Procurator Fiscal in Scotland’.
The research was carried out by SCRA on behalf of the Scottish Government to provide evidence on offending by children aged 12 to 15 years to inform the considerations of the Scottish Government’s Age of Criminal Responsibility (ACR) Advisory Group on a future ACR in Scotland.
This study examined 400 children who were referred to the Reporter, or who were jointly reported to the Procurator Fiscal and the Reporter. It does not represent all children who offend in Scotland.
For many of the 400 children in this study their lives were characterised by adversity, trauma, neglect, exposure to harmful behaviours by others, victimisation and exploitation (including criminal exploitation and sexual exploitation), often compounded by socioeconomic disadvantage.
The report will now be considered by the Scottish Government’s Age of Criminal Responsibility (ACR) Advisory Group.