Decision making by a Children's Hearing: Less legislative 'redesign' and more 'implementation'

Scotland’s children’s hearings system is rightly celebrated. The system originated from a report in the 1960s (‘the Kilbrandon report’ named after the chair of the Committee, Lord Kilbrandon) and works from the starting point that children should not be defined by the reason why the intervention of the State is needed; whether that’s because the child is, or may be, the victim of abuse or neglect towards them or their own behaviour is a cause for concern, including behaviour contrary to the criminal law. Often, they are the same child. Research continues to demonstrate the soundness of this premise, most recently in research by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) on children aged 12 – 15 years in conflict with the law : This link opens a PDF documentpublished in June 2022.