Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee 25 June 2025
Our specific reason for having this additional committee meeting is to take evidence on youth crime, and we have two panels with whom we hope to be able to explore the issues. The session will be informed by our consideration of two separate petitions with which we have been actively engaged since 2022. The first petition is PE1947, on addressing Scotland’s culture of youth violence, and as part of our evidence taking for that petition, we have undertaken external visits and met various groups outside of Parliament. The second is PE2064, on ensuring that under-16s charged with rape are treated as adults in the criminal justice system.
I am delighted to say that our first panel is with us to assist with our consideration of the issues. We are joined by the Rt Hon Dorothy Bain KC, the Lord Advocate, whom it is our great pleasure to have back at the committee; Alistair Hogg, head of practice and policy, Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration; and Stephanie Ross, principal procurator fiscal depute in the policy unit, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. A warm welcome to you all and thank you very much for making the time to join us this morning.
I will start by setting out some of the context, which I have already referred to. The committee undertook a considerable amount of work on the petition on addressing youth violence, but as we went along, we were struck by similar concerns that were being raised in parallel on the petition on rape committed by under-16s. On the youth violence petition, we took evidence from Police Scotland, the Violence Reduction Unit and No Knives, Better Lives as well as a number of academics and, most notably, we visited young people and their families who had been impacted by violence in their own communities.
One girl to whom we spoke was attacked when she was just 14. I do not think that any of us who were at that meeting will forget it; indeed, it is, I suppose, not normal for politicians necessarily to be confronted by that level of direct experience. Perhaps others will say that it is a story that they have heard before, but we were left profoundly moved. The girl was left at the age of 14 with post-traumatic stress disorder; she cannot leave the house without her mum; and she has attempted to end her life on two occasions.
In our evidence taking, we might well go into some of what we were told at the time, but I should make it clear that the young girl in question and her family felt let down that the justice system did not protect her and that things were just as bad after the attack. She did not feel that there were appropriate consequences for the perpetrator, who was still very much in the community and was able, along with their family, to cause her further harm.
The petitioner for PE2064, on rape committed by under-16s, has shared her view that there should be more consequences for the crime of rape committed by under-16s. She feels that the perpetrator will be free to continue attacking more people because, as she sees it, there is just no deterrence in place.
The committee understands that the system avoids criminalising children where possible. However, we remain concerned about how the most serious cases of violence and sexual offending are addressed and, crucially, how victims can meaningfully pursue justice and feel safe in their communities again. As a final comment, I would say that we were particularly struck by the organisation of some of the violence that we saw, with individuals being summoned for false reasons to destinations, only to find multiple people standing present and ready to film what was about to take place. Those victims were then abandoned without any regard whatever for their wellbeing or safety and left in an extremely difficult and dangerous condition. That was very difficult to hear.
I have been told that there has been no request by the witnesses to make any additional statements, so we will move straight to questions. I will come to the evidence that we heard from children later, but I will invite Maurice Golden to begin the questioning.