The subject of Youth Crime has been one of much public debate over the last few years. The Scottish Government is very aware of the public's concerns over community safety and troublesome behaviour by youths.
Generally, most young people who offend will do so only once, learning from the experience and never offending again.
Young people under the age of 16, who offend, will normally be dealt with through the Children's Hearing System. More information on how children under the age of 16 are dealt with can be found at the Children's Hearings Website.
Persons aged 16 and over will normally be subject to subject to the adult criminal justice procedures.
Diversion from Prosecution
Diversion from Prosecution schemes have young accused as one of its key target groups. The approach is designed to prevent a young person, who has committed only minor crime, from being prematurely up-tariffed through the adult criminal system.
Procurators fiscal are responsible for identifying suitable persons for diversion into social work interventions in anticipation that this will have more beneficial impact on future offending behaviour than a court referral.
Community Sentences
Where a court referral is more appropriate and where a conviction is secured courts have access to a range of community sentences when imposing sentence.
Probation and Community Service Orders are frequently used by courts in sentencing young offenders, the intention being to steer less serious young offenders away from prison and further offending. Community sentences such as probation provide both punishment and an element of personal development work to help the offender move away from offending and into more productive lifestyles.
Venture Trust and Turnaround are examples of support programmes for young offenders made subject to probation orders.
Venture Trust
The Scottish Government currently fund Venture Trust, a registered charity, to provide a 20 day residential programme in Applecross, Ross-shire for young people aged 16-25 who are subject to a Probation Order.
This can be either be as a condition of the order or by referral from Criminal Justice Social Work. This service which is centrally funded is available to all local authorities in Scotland. The capacity of the programme is approximately 100 young offenders per year.
Turnaround
Turning Point Scotland, a national not-for profit organisation in partnership with APEX Scotland and Venture Trust, are delivering Turnaround, a service for young men aged 16-30 whose offending is high volume and low tariff.
Turnaround is based in the North Strathclyde and South West Scotland Community Justice Authority (CJA) areas, covering 10 local authorities. Turnaround has been operational since January 2008 and provides community based services from four bases, two in North Strathclyde CJA and two in South West Scotland CJA. A residential unit based near Paisley is about to start operation.