Youth crime and justice in Scotland

This quotation from the report of the Kilbrandon Committee which set up the existing system of juvenile justice in Scotland gives a flavour of the Scottish civic culture which has shaped Scotland’s unique institutions and processes for dealing with young offenders (McAra 2008). It highlights a sense of common ownership of the problems posed by young offenders and a commitment to the development of effective practice. It also reflects a recurrent preoccupation of policy elites that extant structures of juvenile justice are inadequate for the task of reducing offending among children and young people and require to be reformed.