Report to the People
Youth Crime
In the weeks since taking over as Scotland’s First Minister, Jack McConnell has wasted no time in underlining the fact that the interests of Scotland’s children and young people will be at the heart of his administration.
This is underpinned by a simple principle – that all our children should have an equal right to reach their full potential. The opportunities your children have should not depend on accidents of birth, such as your own social background.
Work has already begun, with the First Minister personally chairing a new Ministerial Committee dedicated to improving young people’s lives. Also, school pupils will now have access to a vast online database of Scotland's culture and history thanks to a grant of £200,000 from the Executive.
But make no mistake. In prioritising the interests of young people, we must consider the small minority whose criminal and antisocial behaviour could ruin their prospects and make the rest of our lives a misery.
This point was made repeatedly in the Scottish Parliament last week when we debated how to improve Scotland’s Youth Justice System and make our communities safer.
The stories told by many speakers were similar to those I have heard in my constituency work of persistent young offenders destroying property and ruining lives in their community.
The question is how do we put a stop to it? How do we turn young people away from crime and towards the opportunities which are becoming available to them?
However tempting it may be, hanging them or locking them up for the rest of their natural lives are illegal and too expensive respectively. The only way to sort them out is by finding long term, sustainable solutions which will break the cycle of criminal behaviour.
This must, of course, include using secure units. But this is not enough - young offenders must be made to grow up and face up to the consequences of their actions. There is no point spending taxpayers’ money keeping someone in a secure unit, if all he will do on release is commit more crime, costing us yet more money arresting, trying, convicting and detaining him.
And it’s not just the taxpayer who loses out in the cycle of crime. Communities don’t become safer and offenders continue their inevitable slide towards a long stretch in an adult jail.
We all have the right to be free from crime and the fear of crime. And all young people have the right to realise their full potential.
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