Aftermath News

Children as young as 11 will form a “jury”, listen to evidence, and hand down a sentence.

Telegraph | Apr 28, 2008

By Auslan Cramb

Children will be allowed to sentence each other for minor crimes such as vandalism under plans for Scotland’s first “kid court”.

The scheme will be trialled in the Borders and will deal with young offenders who have admitted their guilt to the police, but whose offences are not serious enough to merit appearing before a Children’s Panel.

At the moment, such cases are dealt with in the form of a warning from the police.

Under the plan, which is similar to a scheme operated in New York, children as young as 11 will form a “jury”, listen to evidence, and hand down a sentence that could include repairing any criminal damage.

Other possible punishments involve writing letters of apology, saying sorry in person and listening to the victim explain the impact of the crime on them.

However, one former judge described the scheme, which is due to being approved by officials at Scottish Borders Council, as a “crackpot idea”. Lord McCluskey added: “It’s not always appropriate to bring in ideas from the United States, they have a very different situation from us.”

But John Scott, a criminal defence lawyer, said it was “worth trying”, adding: “Sometimes young people can get through to young offenders in a way that judges, lawyers and social workers can’t.” Officials who support the move believe that children who are sentenced by their peers are less likely to re-offend.

The children’s court plan is based on a scheme that has run for more than a decade in New York city, where youngsters from the age of 14 sit in judgment on each other.

The US scheme gives jury members ten weeks of training and swears them to secrecy. It also selects jurors from schoolchildren of various backgrounds and academic levels as well as former offenders to avoid accusations of class bias.

It avoids restricting courts to individual schools to reduce the chances of the accused and jurors knowing each other.

The Scottish version will see members of the panels supported by adults in the council’s youth justice team.

The local Children’s Reporter will advise on appropriate cases.

Jeremy Purvis, Lib Dem MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, said: “These youth panels will give an opportunity to nip offending behaviour in the bud.

“It won’t be appropriate for everyone, but there will be a significant number who will listen to their peers rather than some person in a suit. The disapproval of their peers confronts offenders in a way that a lecture from a much older person doesn’t.”

An estimated 37,000 offences are committed in Scotland each year by children under the age of 16.