Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016

53 Duty to inform Principal Reporter if child not being prosecuted

(1) Subsections (2) and (3) apply if—

(a) a person is being kept in a place of safety in accordance with section 22(2) when it is decided not to prosecute the person for any relevant offence, and

(b) a constable has reasonable grounds for suspecting that the person has committed a relevant offence.

(2) The Principal Reporter must be informed, as soon as reasonably practicable, that the person is being kept in a place of safety under subsection (3).

(3) The person must be kept in a place of safety under this subsection until the Principal Reporter makes a direction under section 65(2) of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011.

(4) An offence is a “relevant offence” for the purpose of subsection (1) if—

(a) it is the offence with which the person was officially accused, leading to the person being kept in the place of safety in accordance with section 22(2), or

(b) it is an offence arising from the same circumstances as the offence mentioned in paragraph (a).

(5) In this section, “place of safety” has the meaning given in section 202(1) of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011.