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Keeping children out of prison
21/02/2008
Ministers plan to scrap the law that allows children to be locked up in Scottish jails without having been convicted of an offence.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill wants to abolish 'unruly certificates', by which children appearing on a charge before a criminal court can be remanded in prison custody due to their 'unruly' character or behaviour.
He will consult shortly on alternative proposals that, for example, would see under-16s either placed in secure care or made the subject of an alternative order such as Intensive Support & Monitoring (ISMS) that includes a tag.
Mr MacAskill has decided to act following concerns, including from HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland (HMCIP) Dr Andrew McLellan, about the detention of children in prison facilities.
Officials have also been asked to develop plans to ensure that more children who are placed in secure care following conviction remain there beyond their 16th birthday rather than being transferred to the Scottish Prison Service estate - most often a Young Offender's Institution (YOI).
Both measures underline the Scottish Government's support for the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
They are also part of on-going commitments to ensure that prison is reserved for those who really need to be there, and that local authorities are supported to make best use of a range of secure, residential and community-based interventions in future.
In his 2006-07 annual report HMCIP repeated his call for an end to the detention of children in Scotland's prisons as he reported 26 cases of under-16s having been admitted to a YOI or regular adult prison that year.
Mr MacAskill said
"Scotland needs a coherent penal policy. One that imprisons dangerous criminals who pose a risk to the public, but one that can also turn offenders away from the revolving door of crime.
"I don't believe that in the long run Scotland will be well served by jailing children.
"Lock up a youth alongside hardened criminals, and there's a risk you'll lock them into a life of crime. So I agree with the Chief Inspector and others that prison is no place for children.
"That's why I want to scrap unruly certificates and also why, where it might benefit the child, we will allow more to remain in secure care rather than transferring them to the prison estate as soon as they reach 16.
"We support the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and these are significant steps towards better implementation of the Convention in Scotland.
"By allowing more youngsters to be placed in secure care instead of SPS custody, we will also allow spare capacity in the newly-refurbished and enhanced secure estate to be used more readily to benefit both vulnerable young people and the wider community.
"Thanks to the uptake of options, such as ISMS and other community-based interventions, the use of secure places has been stable and so fewer under-16s are being placed there than was predicted under the plans of the previous administration.
"That means, thankfully, no young person is short of a place when it is needed - whether for welfare reasons alone, or also because of their offending behaviour.
"If, in time, resources can be shifted from holding young people in custody to sustaining them safely in their communities that will help to meet our wider objectives.
"Of course, we recognise the resource implications for operators of any instance of spare capacity. We have been, and will continue to work closely and imaginatively with secure providers and local authorities to ensure that this valuable national resource continues to be put to good use, to benefit a wide range of young people and the wider community.
"Our objective of ending the remand of children in our prisons, and keeping suitable 16 and 17 year olds in secure, will certainly assist us in that."
Under Section 51 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, a child aged 14 or older who appears before a court charged with a crime or offence may, because of their unruly character, be detained in the prison system.
A total of £20.5 million central funding has been provided to support the refurbishment and expansion of Scotland's secure estate. The redevelopment is expected to conclude by the end of 2008 with the opening of Rossie Secure Services, bringing the total number of places to 125.