Having an age of criminal responsibility is a requirement of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which the Scottish Parliament voted unanimously to incorporate earlier this year.

However, in only raising the age of criminal responsibility to 12, Scotland is out of step with emergent children’s rights thinking, the charity said. In 2019 the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child revised their guidance around the age of criminal responsibility, setting a minimum recommended age of at least 14. The UN Committee encourages member states to take note of recent scientific findings and consider a higher a higher minimum age of 15 or 16 years.

Given the age of criminal prosecution is already 12 and the small number of children referred to the children hearing’s system on offence grounds, this change is likely to have a limited impact in practice.

Alison Reid, principal solicitor and chief executive of Clan Childlaw, said: “At Clan Childlaw we seek to protect and strengthen children’s rights and improve their lives. This increase in the age of criminal responsibility is a step in the right direction, but we would like to see Scotland leading the way in children’s rights rather than trailing behind international standards.

“As lawyers for children and young people, we know that involvement in the criminal justice system at a young age increases the likelihood that a child will continue to engage in behaviour which is harmful both to themselves and to others. We should be supporting children not criminalising them.”