SCOTLAND’S children’s commissioner has called for all the country’s political parties to commit to raising the age of criminal responsibility – which at eight is currently one of the lowest in the world.
Tam Baillie spoke out as the LibDems look set to back an increase to 12 following a motion put down by their justice spokeswoman Alison McInnes to her party’s conference which starts tomorrow.
Party sources say it is likely to get the support of delegates making it a key campaigning issue ahead of polling day on May 5.
The age of criminal responsibility is the age in law at which children can be arrested and charged with a crime and have a criminal record.
Speaking to The National, Baillie backed McInnes’ motion and urged the other parties to take action too.
“Scotland’s age of criminal responsibility is a matter of long-standing concern. The country has been criticised on quite a number of occasions by the United Nation’s Committee on the Rights of the Child. We know that criminalising children at a young age when they are still at a very early stage of their development is damaging, stigmatises many of them for life and reinforces negative behaviour,” he said.
“I welcome the moves by the LibDems. I would like to see the age to be increased to at least 12 and I would like to see cross-party support on the issue as the parties go into the election.”
Most countries in the world have set the age of criminal responsibility at 12, 14 or 16. In the rest of the UK it is ten.
Exceptions where the age is under 10 include India at seven, Kenya at eight, Iraq at nine and Thailand where the age is seven.
The age of criminal responsibility has proved contentious in recent years, with warnings that had a 12 years of age limit been in place across the UK at the time of the murder of James Bulger in 1993 his 10-year-old killers, Robert Thomson and Jon Venables, would never have come to court.
Alison Todd, chief executive of Children 1st, which also supports an increase, has previously said that children who commit crimes often have complex and difficult childhoods, and instead of being labelled as criminals they and their families need support to address the causes of their behaviour and prevent further offending.
A LibDem source last night told The National: “This motion has already received support from members across Scotland and is likely to be backed at conference over the weekend. We are sending a clear message that at this election we will be putting children first – whether it is through a transformational investment in education or taking steps to protect their fundamental rights.”
The age of criminal responsibility in Scotland has been fixed at eight since 1928. In 2000, an advisory group to the Scottish Parliament recommended raising the age to 12, but the matter was referred to the Scottish Law Commission.
The commission drew a distinction between holding a child responsible for his or her actions and what should happen thereafter. As a result of its recommendations, the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 amended the law to provide that no child under the age of 12 may be prosecuted in a criminal court for an offence, nor can anyone, regardless of age, be prosecuted for anything done before reaching that age. However, the 2010 Act did not alter the age of criminal responsibility itself and it remained at eight.
The Scottish Government has an advisory group considering the matter and is expected to report over the coming months.
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