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Children’s rights advocate laments 27 young lives lost in custody as she urges change

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Twenty-seven young people, including two children, have died in custody in Scotland since 2009 as a children’s rights expert called for urgent action to better protect young Scots in the justice system.

Claire Lightowler, former director of the Centre For Youth And Criminal Justice, highlighted the loss as she delivered a flagship lecture last week, days after sentencing reforms were introduced encouraging judges to give more consideration to the background of young offenders and only jail them as a last resort.

However, using the Kilbrandon Lecture in Glasgow as a clarion call for Scotland to do more, Lightowler asked: “What are we doing taking such traumatised children, exposing them to extreme additional trauma, giving them new issues to deal with, and then returning them to the community, with no or little support?

“There are, of course, ­children who don’t return to the community. Since
2009, two children and 25 young people between the ages of 18 and 25 have died in prison, 56% of whom were on remand.”

The youngest to die was William Lindsay, just 16 when he took his own life in 2018 in Polmont Young Offenders Institution. Raygen Merchant was 17 when he also died by suicide in Polmont in 2014.

Breaking the cycle? Community justice is key as more young Scots are spared jail

Lightowler said: “The details of those young lives are charted in the Fatal Accident Reports into their deaths. They were young lives lived in difficult circumstances, and how we failed them.”

New sentencing guidelines for under-25s came into force in Scotland last week to ensure young people should only face jail when no other sentence is appropriate.

However, experts told The Post last week that community-based alternatives to custody and rehab support must be properly resourced to turn young lives around and win the trust of the public.

Last year, we reported how a taskforce had been launched to deliver the most radical reform of Scotland’s Children’s Hearings in 50 years, with retired sheriff David Mackie leading a working group drafting a blueprint for change.

Lightowler told how ­fundamental change was needed, saying children who did not come to the attention of the Children’s Hearing System were more likely to stop offending than those who do.

She said: “Scotland’s approach to children in conflict with the law often makes things worse, and the more we try to focus on ‘preventing offending’ by individual children the more likely we are to label, stigmatise and draw children ever further into conflict with the law.

“Most children are in prison for an average of two months and most of them put there find it traumatic. When you remand them you take them away from things that started to work. Vital supports like education and housing. They return to the community with additional trauma so we must ask, ‘What was the point?’ It is vital to see people
as individuals.”

Action demanded after 4,000 children held in custody by police

The annual lecture ­commemorates the life of Lord Kilbrandon whose pioneering work led to the formation of the Scottish Children’s Hearing system.

Lightowler admitted ­struggling to contain her emotions during the lecture: “I care and others care. For those children who need to be deprived of their liberty custody is a good place but not all children need to be deprived of their liberty. It should only be the option when there is no other way of keeping other people safe.

“This requires a shift by some. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international treaty signed by the UK Government, says depriving children of their liberty should be a measure of last resort, but that is not always recognised by sheriffs.

“The Scottish Government is planning to incorporate that into Scots Law, however.”

Lightowler said that, while Scandinavian countries had better systems, there was no one country we could look to as a model. “Instead, we should look at our strengths in Scotland and work to improve this. There have been examples of where children are treated well.”

She revealed she was driven to help create a fairer system of youth justice after attending the funeral of an extended family member who was killed by another.

“At the funeral the mother of the young man who was murdered reached out and hugged the mother in an act of support and reconciliation. That was a hugely powerful moment.”

She said her experience working in youth and criminal justice directed her to study law at Edinburgh University. “It made me want to go to university and practise law and defend the rights of these children and I will continue my personal commitment to those who died.”


Commissioner: Children in conflict with the law are still children

Scotland’s Children and Young People’s Commissioner welcomed Claire Lightowler’s call for change.

Bruce Adamson said: “Her lecture on Thursday illustrated just how far Scotland is from a rights-respecting justice system for children and young people.

“Children in conflict with the law need to be treated first and foremost as children. Scotland’s low age of criminal responsibility and the continuing detention of children in prisons paints a bleak picture of our commitment to children’s rights.

“They are children in need of care, protection, and therapeutic support to recover from trauma and adversity.

“Their needs and behaviour must be addressed in a child-friendly justice system where their rights, welfare and best interests are respected, protected and fulfilled.

“The adult justice system does not meet these requirements. Prison is not an appropriate environment for a child not least for those sent to prison due to a lack of alternative secure places.

“The Scottish Government has made a commitment to implement the findings and recommendations of the Independent Care Review (the Promise) and prevent children being detained in prison by 2024. But the lack of urgency means that children’s rights will continue to be breached, putting them at risk of long-term harm.”

The Scottish Government said: “While the decision whether to keep someone under the age of 18 in custody is a matter for the independent courts, the Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to keeping children out of the criminal justice system.

“Building on excellent progress in recent years, this government continues to support this agenda by encouraging use of children’s hearings and where a criminal justice response is required, allowing for alternatives to custody where possible and appropriate.

“We have seen dramatic positive changes in the youth justice sector since our decisive shift towards prevention in 2007. The number of under-18s in custody is down by over 90%.”