Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee 25 June 2025
Given what you have described to me, it sounds as if the events that happened to that child were reported to the police. The police have published guidelines from me that set down the circumstances in which they must report offences committed by children to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. From what you have described, I am not clear whether, in that case, the police reported the matter to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. However, on the information that you have given about the serious nature of the offending that you described, it very much seems to me that that would be the type of offending that should be jointly reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the children’s reporter by the police. If that were so and it came to the Crown Office, there would be, as Mr Hogg has described, communication between the children’s reporter and the Crown Office as to what should be done in the circumstances of that case.
All the circumstances of what happened are taken into account. The rights of the victim and the rights of the accused and the whole circumstances of the case, including the level of seriousness and the impact on the victim, are all factors that are weighed in the balance with great care and great seriousness before, ultimately, a decision is taken. The Crown can prosecute cases, and it does that. During the course of the prosecution, it provides the level of support to victims that it can provide through the victim information and advice service; prosecutors can give support to victims of these types of crime through the criminal justice process.
Separate and distinct from that, victim support agencies are available to provide support. We can only prosecute, and we cannot prosecute our way out of what is a very difficult situation for all of society relating to offending by children. We can do our part, but there has to be a whole-system response, as I said before. If, in fact, the system itself is not providing separately and distinctly the appropriate level of support for the victims of these types of crime, that should be looked at. I would support anything that would do that to the utmost of my ability and within the parameters within which I am able to operate. Perhaps Mr Hogg could also respond to your important points.