Section 12 of the Young Persons Act 1937 prosecutions: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for information on prosecutions (Guilty/Not Guilty/Not Proven or Not Called) under Section 12 of the Young Persons Act 1937 over the past 10 years ie. 2008-2018 inclusive.

Response

The information is provided in the following table.

Number of people proceeded against in Scottish courts under the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937 Section 12*, 2008-09 to 2017-18.

	PNGA or deserted	Acquitted not guilty	Acquitted not proven	Charge proved	Total
2008-09	26	12	-	162	200
2009-10	25	11	3	124	163
2010-11	27	12	-	145	184
2011-12	18	10	1	153	182
2012-13	30	8	2	114	154
2013-14	31	13	2	124	170
2014-15	29	15	5	130	179
2015-16	24	6	3	124	157
2016-17	26	17	2	106	151
2017-18	12	14	3	92	121

* - where main crime
Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

Please note: Information for 2018-19 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2018-19 Statistical Bulletin. This is planned to be published in December 2019.

You may be aware that the Scottish Government have committed to bring in new legislation to update the provisions in section 12 of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937: cruelty to persons under 16. Updating the 80-year-old law is essential to reflect our modern understanding of the impact of emotional abuse and neglect, as well as physical harm.

In a consultation which ran from August to November 2018 we asked for views on proposals to modernise the criminal offence of child cruelty, set out in section 12 of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937, including whether emotional and psychological harm should be included within the scope of the offence. We published an analysis of responses to the consultation in September 2019 and are carefully considering the responses to inform next steps in this complex and sensitive area of the law. We plan to undertake further engagement with the third sector and other key stakeholders as we develop and refine the proposals.

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