Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government

Current law6.3.4 For the purposes of the 1995 Act generally, a “child” is defined as: (1) aperson under 16; and (2) a person aged 16 or 17 who is subject to asupervision requirement 1 . However, the provisions relating to section 14detention 2 and other statutes, including the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act2011 3 and the Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2004 4 , define a child as “aperson under 16 years of age”. The age of majority is 18 years, in terms ofsection 1(1) of the Age of Majority (Scotland) Act 1969.6.3.5 The age of criminal responsibility in Scotland remains at 8 5 . However, aperson cannot be prosecuted for an offence committed when he/she was underthe age of 12 6 . Below this age, any offending behaviour by a child may bedealt with through the Children’s Hearing system. A child under 16 cannot beprosecuted unless the Lord Advocate determines otherwise 7 . Under that age,his/her case will normally also be dealt with by a Children’s Hearing ratherthan a court, following upon a reference from the Children’s Reporter. TheLord Advocate has supplied the police with Guidelines on crimes which achild may be reported for prosecution, rather than being sent to the Reporter 8 .Children should not be detained at all unless the offence falls into one of theGuideline categories. The offences are, in broad terms, those which, if1 within meaning given by Children (Scotland) Act 19952 1995 Act s 15(6)3 s 1994 s 1 inserting s 27 in the 1995 Act5 1995 Act s 416 ibid section 41A inserted by section 52 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 20107 ibid s 428 Reporting to procurators fiscal of offences alleged to have been committed by children: RevisedCategories of Offences: April 2006204