Committee
Justice Committee 08 February 2011
08 Feb 2011 · S3 · Justice Committee
Item of business
Subordinate Legislation
Retention of Samples etc (Children’s Hearings) (Scotland) Order 2011 (Draft)
I do not have statistics to indicate the prevalence of that crime or offence. The list is very long and I wanted to ensure that it was comprehensive. I did not want us to omit offences or crimes that are rarely libelled; therefore, I sought and obtained an assurance that, on the basis of the best information that we received from our legal advisers and the relevant authorities, that has not been the case.The main justification for including or not including an offence in the list of offences for which a young person’s DNA can be retained is whether there is a high risk of their future offending. What is the purpose of retaining DNA? If there is not a high risk of future offending, what would be the purpose of its retention? If there is a high risk of future offending, there is a need to retain DNA, as there is with adults. Whether or not there was a high risk of future offending was, we felt, an appropriate criterion on which to determine the list of offences. That is, broadly speaking, the basis on which we proceeded after having obtained advice from a working party comprising all stakeholders, some of whom we recognised as having principled concerns about the legislation or as being opposed to it. Robert Brown, in particular, will be aware of that.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Con
The purpose of agenda item 4 is to allow the committee to take evidence on an affirmative instrument: the draft Retention of Samples etc (Children’s Hearings...
Fergus Ewing
SNP
I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss the draft Retention of Samples etc (Children’s Hearings) (Scotland) Order 2011 with the committee. The order is ...
The Convener
Con
The list of offences is clearly stated in article 2 of the order. Do members have questions?
Robert Brown
LD
Yes. I was one of those who had concerns about the process. However, the bill having gone through in the form that it did, the minister seems to me to have m...
Fergus Ewing
SNP
Certainly, I accept that in relation to assault in general, and to serious assault, there is a gradation in the degree of severity from very minor to pretty ...
Robert Brown
LD
In terms of the violent offences, article 3(b) contains the offence of“uttering a threat to the life of another person”.I am not sure whether that, in itself...
Fergus Ewing
SNP
I do not have statistics to indicate the prevalence of that crime or offence. The list is very long and I wanted to ensure that it was comprehensive. I did n...
Cathie Craigie
Lab
I have a question on the list of offences. Lists always attract questions from someone. Article 2(i)(iv) refers to section 2 of the Criminal Law Consolidatio...
Fergus Ewing
SNP
I suppose that it is possible to be a parent at an early age.
The Convener
Con
Surely, minister, the point is that it is possible to be a step-parent at a much earlier age than that at which one could become a parent.
Fergus Ewing
SNP
That is true. That is a fair point, which I would adopt as my own in answering this unexpected line of questioning.I remind myself as well as members that th...
Cathie Craigie
Lab
If the instrument deals with young people up to the age of 17, it is possible that the offence could happen. In law, someone could not have a step-child unle...
The Convener
Con
It is a question of arithmetic rather than the law. There being no further questions, we proceed to item 5, which is formal consideration of the motion to ap...
The Convener
Con
That concludes the public part of the meeting.13:06 Meeting continued in private until 13:14.