criminal justice system – The NEN

Holyrood committee seeks views on proposed changes to young people’s criminal justice system

Changes to the care of children and the involvement of children in the criminal justice system are to come under scrutiny at the Scottish Parliament.

The Education, Children and Young People Committee will consider the proposals laid out in the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill and would like to hear the views of people from across Scotland.

The Bill changes how the justice system approaches offences committed by people under the age of 18. This will include allowing most 16- and 17-year-olds to attend a Children’s Hearing, rather than a court.

Changes would also be made to regulations around accommodations for young people. Under the proposals 16- and 17-year-olds, accused of or guilty of offences would not be held in Young Offenders Institutions or prisons, but instead would be sent to secure accommodation. The Bill would also change how care services providing residential accommodation to children are regulated.

The Committee is opening a call for views so it can hear the views of organisations supporting young people in conflict with the law, young people and parents. The Committee is also very interested in hearing the views of legal professionals, secure accommodation providers and victims of crime.

Following the end of the consultation the Committee plans to hold a series of evidence sessions to discuss the Bill, before reporting its findings to the Parliament later in the year.

Sue Webber, Convener of the Education, Children and Young People Committee said: “The Bill we will be scrutinising will allow all 16- and 17-year-olds to access the Children’s Hearings System for the first time.

“This aims to safeguard those at risk of harm and change how the justice system deals with young people who have committed offences. It also introduces a range of further measures designed to improve the way that children are treated, including ensuring no young person under the age of 18 will be sent to a Young Offenders’ Institution or prison.

“We want to get a thorough understanding of how the proposals in the Bill might impact on people across Scotland, including young people themselves, children’s support organisations and youth justice bodies.

“Please share your views on these proposals with our Committee before the 17 March 2023 deadline.”

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RoSPA alarmed by rise in cyclist and child road deaths

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is deeply concerned that latest Department for Transport (DfT) figures show an increase in the number of fatal collisions involving cyclists and children, despite an overall reduction in the number of road deaths following a year of lockdowns.

The DfT published the Reported Road Casualties Great Britain 2020 which shows that last year 1,460 people were killed on our roads, which is a fall of 17 per cent compared with the figure in 2019.

In 2020, there were a total of 115,584 reported road casualties of all severities, which was a fall of 25 per cent from the previous year. For much of 2020, there was a COVID lockdown and the RAC estimated that miles travelled in Great Britain were 21 per cent down on the previous year.

Alarmingly, data from the DfT shows that in 2020, 141 cyclists were killed in road accidents. This was up 41 per cent from 100 deaths in the previous year. The number of children killed on Britain’s roads also increased, from 49 in 2019 to 52 in 2020.

David Walker, Head of Road and Leisure Safety at RoSPA said: “By any measure 2020 was an abnormal year. It is of no surprise that the overall number of road casualties fell. This is in no small part due to less traffic on the roads.

“With traffic levels returning to pre-pandemic levels and some understandable reluctance towards using public transport, we must today continue to focus on the harm to motorists and more significantly, from motorists.

“We welcome the fact that more people have been getting out on their bikes and recognise the reduction in the rate of deaths per mile travelled. However, this should not distract from the shocking fact that more cyclists and more children died on our roads than in the previous year.

“At RoSPA we believe that having more cyclists and pedestrians should not result in an increased number of serious and fatal accidents involving vulnerable road users.

“We must continue to act decisively if we want to maintain the position of British roads being among the safest in the world.”

With travel restrictions in place throughout 2020, there was a huge increase in the number of people electing to use active travel such as walking and cycling.

According to the DfT‘s Road Traffic Estimates in Great Britain 2020, pedal cycle traffic was up by 45.7 per cent from the previous year.