Police urged to act to stop youngsters falling into life of crime after figures show 4,000 were taken into custody

Justice campaigners have demanded police do more to stop young people falling into a life of crime after more than 4,000 children were taken into custody last year, we can reveal today.

Scottish Police Authority (SPA) figures showed that there were 4,012 children held in custody from April 1, 2021 to March 31 this year.

One child – aged nine – was involved in a suspected assault, two were 10 years old, four were 11 and 28 were just 12.

This year’s figure shows a slight drop on previous years – 4,147 children were held in custody in 2020-21 and 5,359 in 2019-20.

But penal reform charity Howard League Scotland said the figure was still far too high.

Emma Jardine, of Howard League Scotland, said: “The United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child categorically states that a child should only be detained as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.

“If a child can’t be returned home and is a danger to themselves or others, the police and local authorities need to work together to ensure the child is taken to a place of safety as quickly as possible – however difficult that may be. Regardless of the severity of an alleged offence, a police station is not an appropriate place of safety for a child in crisis.”

The SPA report on the Independent Custody Visitors Scheme acknowledged that Police Scotland was committed to ensuring that, where possible, children were not held in custody unless there were exceptional circumstances.

It said: “The main underpinning reason for this is due to a lack of suitable alternative places of safety.

“Police Scotland is continually and actively trying to progress in this area, through partnership with relevant agencies to minimise the need for children to be held in police custody, other than in the utmost of exceptional situations.”

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Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said: “Putting them in custody doesn’t solve the problem and can often make things worse. While it is encouraging to see this number falling, it still remains far too high.

“Our justice system must ensure any action taken against children is reasonable and proportionate.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats want to see the age of criminal responsibility raised to 16. This can help avoid criminalising children, blighting their lives and ultimately making communities less safe in the process.”

Jamie Greene MSP, Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice, said: “To see more than 4,000 suspected offences committed by children is deeply worrying.

“They have clearly had troubled lives so I hope they will get the support they need before their lives descend into a cycle of violence and criminality.”

The news comes as the number of children in custody is expected to more than double across the UK in the next three years, according to a report by the National Audit Office.

This is despite the average number of children in custody falling by 73 per cent from 2011 to 2021.

The report said the rise was due to courts returning to work after the pandemic, as well as the UK Government’s new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and plans to boost police numbers.

The Scottish Police Authority said: “Children and young people should not be held in police custody other than in very exceptional circumstances. The Authority has an active interest in Police Scotland’s interaction with children and young people.

“Through our scrutiny of this issue, we know that a range of complex challenges often mean that the only place of safety available to a child or young person is a custody suite.

“This is not ideal and Police Scotland is working with partners to find more suitable alternatives which the Authority fully supports.”

Police Scotland’s Assistant Chief Constable Kenny MacDonald said: “We hold children in custody only as a last resort when no other options are open to us because alternative places of safety are not available.

“This is not a policy of choice for Police Scotland and we are speaking to partners about the availability of suitable alternatives.

“The number of children requiring to be held in police custody has decreased over the last three years, but remains higher than we would wish.”