Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024

Remit to children’s hearing from criminal courts

17 Referral or remit to Principal Reporter of children guilty of offences

(1) The 1995 Act is amended as follows.

(2) In section 49 (reference or remit to children’s hearing)—

(a) for subsections (1) to (3) substitute—

“(1) Where a child is charged summarily with an offence and pleads guilty to, or is found guilty of, the offence, the court—

(a) must—

(i) request the Principal Reporter to arrange a children’s hearing for the purposes of obtaining their advice as to the treatment of the child, or

(ii) remit the case to the Principal Reporter to arrange for the disposal of the case by a children’s hearing,

(b) may, where subsection (1C) applies, dispose of the case itself.

(1A) Where a child pleads guilty to, or is found guilty of, an offence in solemn proceedings in the sheriff court, the court may—

(a) request the Principal Reporter to arrange a children’s hearing for the purposes of obtaining their advice as to the treatment of the child,

(b) remit the case to the Principal Reporter to arrange for the disposal of the case by a children’s hearing, or

(c) subject to subsection (1B), dispose of the case itself.

(1B) Before disposing of the case itself, the court must, unless it determines that it is not in the interests of justice to do so, or where subsection (1C) applies, request advice as mentioned in subsection (1A)(a).

(1C) The court need not request advice as mentioned in subsection (1)(a)(i) or, as the case may be, (1B) or remit the case to the Principal Reporter as mentioned in subsection (1)(a)(ii) where—

(a) the child is within 6 months of attaining the age of 18 years, and

(b) the court considers that it would not be practicable in the circumstances to do so.

(1D) Where a child pleads guilty to, or is found guilty of, an offence in solemn proceedings in the High Court, the court may—

(a) request the Principal Reporter to arrange a children’s hearing for the purposes of obtaining their advice as to the treatment of the child,

(b) remit the case to the Principal Reporter to arrange for the disposal of the case by a children’s hearing, or

(c) dispose of the case itself.

(1E) Where the court requests advice as mentioned in subsection (1)(a)(i), (1A)(a) or, as the case may be, (1D)(a), it may, after consideration of the advice received from the children’s hearing—

(a) remit the case to the Principal Reporter to arrange for the disposal of the case by a children’s hearing, or

(b) dispose of the case itself.

(1F) Where section 51A of the Firearms Act 1968 or section 29 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 applies, the court may not remit a case as mentioned in subsection (1)(a)(ii), (1A)(b), (1D)(b) or, as the case may be, (1E)(a) but must dispose of the case itself.”,

(b) in subsection (4)—

(i) after “Subject” insert “to subsections (4A), (4B) and (4C) and”,

(ii) for “subsection (1)(a) above or (7)(b) below,” substitute “subsection (1)(a)(ii), (1A)(b), (1D)(b) or (1E)(a),”,

(c) after subsection (4) insert—

“(4A) Where the offence to which the child pleads guilty, or of which the child is found guilty, is an offence to which section 26, 34, 35 or 44 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 applies, that section continues to apply despite the case being remitted for disposal by a children’s hearing as mentioned in subsection (1)(a)(ii), (1A)(b), (1D)(b) or, as the case may be, (1E)(a).

(4B) Where the offence to which the child pleads guilty, or of which the child is found guilty, is an offence listed in schedule 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, section 80 of that Act continues to apply, despite the case being remitted for disposal by a children’s hearing as mentioned in subsection (1)(a)(ii), (1A)(b), (1D)(b) or, as the case may be, (1E)(a), to the extent that its application does not depend on a determination by the court that—

(a) there was a significant sexual aspect to the child’s behaviour in committing the offence,

(b) it is appropriate for the child to be regarded, for the purposes of Part 2 of that Act, to be a person who has committed the offence, or

(c) it is appropriate that Part 2 of that Act should apply in relation to the child.

(4C) Where the offence to which the child pleads guilty, or of which the child is found guilty, is an offence in relation to which the court would be entitled, under section 234A, or obliged, under section 234AZA, to make a non-harassment order, those sections continue to apply despite the case being remitted for disposal by a children’s hearing as mentioned in subsection (1)(a)(ii), (1A)(b), (1D)(b) or, as the case may be, (1E)(a).”,

(d) subsections (6) and (7) are repealed.