By Fiona Dyer
Director of the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice
At the end of August, the last remaining children were successfully removed from HMP & YOI Polmont and rehoused across Scotland’s four secure care centres.
This now means that no child, legally defined as being under 18, will be sent to a Young Offender’s Institution (YOI) in Scotland again.
This is a monumental step forward. One that we should all be proud of as it has involved many people across local and national government, Scottish Prison Service, Police Scotland, secure care, the criminal justice system, and the third sector, working together.
The move away from YOIs came about through years of campaigning, strong partnership working, and after a wealth of research which has overwhelmingly shown that prison is no place for a child.
We know that locking up children, and not addressing the root causes of their offending, ultimately does not make our communities safer. It also does not deliver ‘justice’ in a meaningful sense for the children involved.
As shown in the landmark Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, and elsewhere, poverty and trauma are strongly connected with children and young people who come into conflict with the law.
For many, this means having been the victim of crime themselves, therefore blurring the victim-offender divide, and often presenting with complex needs, and in need of therapeutic support to address trauma.
Evidence shows that the imprisonment of children can lead to them being further traumatised and, rather than aid their rehabilitation, is likely to lead to future negative outcomes, such as reoffending, not staying in education or employment, and the breakdown of positive relationships in their community.
The move away from a YOI to a secure care centre will mean these children will now be looked after by trauma-informed staff and be provided with therapeutic support in a more child-centred setting.
But we know this is only part of the puzzle solved and, without other changes, will mean children continue to be locked up unnecessarily.
We know from the evidence, and from listening to children and young people, that many parts of our care and justice systems are failing to protect their human rights and deliver the support needed for desistance and rehabilitation.
The fact that both the Scottish and UK Governments are grappling with significant over-capacity across the prison estate also shows that the status quo is unsustainable.
“The fact that both the Scottish and UK Governments are grappling with significant over-capacity across the prison estate also shows that the status quo is unsustainable”
We need more partnership working and new thinking to stop the over-criminalisation of children and ensure they are only deprived of their liberty truly as a last resort.
This is not wishful thinking, but is now a legal requirement under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which came into effect in Scotland in July of this year.
The Scottish Government is currently examining deprivation of liberty for children, and part of this process involved commissioning our team at CYCJ to ‘reimagine’ secure care and alternatives to it.
For this, we worked with a wide range of stakeholders, including Police Scotland and senior leaders and practitioners from a range of professions, alongside many children and young people presently in, or with experience of, YOIs and secure care settings.
At the end of September, we produced our report, Reimagining Secure Care, setting out a system-wide integrated model of care which works with children and their families to decide together what they need.
This is based on the idea that remaining within families produces the best outcomes and, where this is not possible, the child or young person still remains in their community.
We know that a child’s environment and experiences are a huge shaper on their behaviour and that maintaining positive relationships, remaining with family and in the community, alongside continuing with education, are crucial in stopping reoffending.
The report’s blueprint for change may seem bold, but it is the logical next step to reduce the deprivation of liberty.
Another area we know we need to see progress in is reducing the number of children in police custody.
The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) recorded 4,261 children detained in police custody in the year 2022/2023.
This included 33 children aged 12 and 1,268 children aged under 16.
Yet we know that police custody is not the best option for a child. A CYCJ paper published in October 2024 highlights the very distressing experiences of children held in police custody.
It is very welcome that the SPA and Police Scotland have acknowledged publicly that a police station should not count as a suitable ‘place of safety’ for children to be detained and have committed to delivering trauma-informed practice.
A working group with senior police and other leaders in the field is in the process of being established to examine this issue.
Going forward, progress needs to be reflected in both a decrease in the numbers of children who are detained in custody, and an increase of their experiences of rights-respecting practice.
By understanding their needs and upholding their rights we have a better chance of addressing offending behaviours.
Only by doing this can we build a more inclusive and safe society and truly deliver justice.