| Margaret Curran, the Scottish Executive minister for Communities said that it was essential for society to get tough with young criminals. |
TEARAWAY children as
young as 10 will be electronically tagged under government
plans to crack down on the nationwide epidemic of youth crime.
Youngsters responsible for terrorising Scottish
communities will be forced to wear the tags to prevent them
leaving their homes at night under the proposals.
And
parents who fail to help impose tagging orders on their
out-of-control children will face fines and even jail.
The controversial move is part of a Scottish Executive
campaign against the rising tide of petty crime and antisocial
behaviour perpetrated by under-16s.
But while the
proposed tagging of pre-teenage children has won cross-party
political support it has been criticised by civil liberties
groups and child psychologists, one of whom warned tags would
become a "badge of honour" for unruly youngsters.
Electronic tagging has been available to courts in
Scotland for the past year but has been restricted to adult
offenders, chiefly as an alternative to prison. The tags send
a signal to a transmitter in the offender’s home which is
relayed to a central control.
The Scottish Executive
is now proposing that Children’s Hearings should have the
right to order that under-16s are tagged to curb their
offending behaviour.
This would bring Scotland into
line with England and Wales where 4,000 10 to 15-year-olds
have been tagged since 2001.
In Scotland, the tagging
of a child would be considered in cases where the youngster
had already broken an anti-social behaviour order, typically a
ban on visiting an area where they had already caused a
nuisance.
The tagging of the child would be
accompanied in most cases by a parenting order which compelled
the youngster’s guardians to ensure the child obeyed the
tagging order. Failure to do so could result in the parents
being fined and failure to pay the fine could ultimately
result in a jail term.
Margaret Curran, the Scottish
Executive minister for Communities, confirmed that 10 was the
lowest age for tagging being considered.
Curran
revealed that as an MSP she had been overwhelmed with
complaints about youth crime and anti-social behaviour.
She said: "Three-quarters of the cases I deal with are
anti-social behaviour. I have about 14 surgeries a mouth and
probably meet about 50 or 60 people on average. It’s
consistent. It is by far and away the most dominant complaint.
"We need to do what has to be done. If that’s tough
then that’s tough. We are not helping these young people at
all if we don’t try to deal with their behaviour.
"You
get people coming in at 16 or 17 who are almost beyond
redemption, hardened criminals. Or having engaged in enough
behaviour to feel as if they’re in a ‘them and us’ situation.
We want to introduce them to behaviour modification at an
earlier age."
Statistics from the Executive prove that
the number of crimes linked to juvenile offenders has risen
sharply in recent years.
Since 1991, the number of
breaches of the peace has risen by 34%, from 55,332 to 74,169.
Over the same period, petty assault has risen by 33% from
41,022 to 54,726.
SNP justice spokeswoman, Nicola
Sturgeon, said: "I’m not against tagging young offenders. The
concern would be that tagging would be used as a substitute
for secure units, and that children don’t lose the opportunity
to have their offending addressed and try and change their
behaviour. I would be concerned that it wouldn’t be used
because of a lack of resources."
A spokeswoman for
children’s charity Children 1st said: "We believe that moving
the focus away from locking up young people is welcome.
Tagging, though, should not necessarily be seen as a solution.
Given the concerns about the activities of young people, there
should be more attention on young people and what they are
doing and whether they are safe."
Leading child
psychologist Dr Jack Boyle, who has worked with older youths
who have been tagged, said: "What tagging does to kids is give
them status. The only peers anti-social kids have are other
anti-social kids." However, he added: "I understand the
government has to do something about this minority who wreak
havoc and misery.
"Tagging can have a short-term
effect. It might keep them from committing a crime, keep them
away from certain areas or keep them in the house.
"All you are saying is you’re going to keep an eye on
them, it’s not a long-term solution. The only long-term
solution is intervention at an early age."
A
spokeswoman for the Howard League for Penal Reform said
tagging was a worthwhile addition to the range of measures
that could be taken against juvenile offenders.
But
she added: "Purely using a tag without taking into account the
complex needs of young people is futile. It doesn’t take into
account the life situation they are in."