Bruce Adamson, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People since May 2017, issued a statement on 14 March 2018 welcoming the rise in the age of criminal responsibility from age 8 to 12 in the Scottish criminal justice system but pressed for more:
“Along with raising the age of criminal responsibility higher than 12, more efforts need to be made to intervene early, helping families in crisis and supporting children at risk, to address the root causes of the behaviour. Research shows that many of these children have complex or traumatic childhood experiences, so we need community-based early intervention services that are well-resourced and quickly accessed, particularly mental health and intensive support services. I welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to continuing to progress raising the age of criminal responsibility further".
Scotland’s age of criminal responsibility is rising to 12. Now, it needs to go higher than the “absolute minimum” acceptable, 14 March 2018. Available at: https://www.cypcs.org.uk/news/in-the-news/scotlands-age-of-criminal-responsibility-is-rising-to-12-now-it-needs-to-go-higher-than-the-absolute-minimum-acceptable