ABSTRACT
The issue erupted in a particularly dramatic way in Edinburgh in the Tron Riot of 1812, and this provides a convenient starting point for an examination of developing attitudes to juvenile crime in nineteenth century Scotland. The handling of their trial illustrates some of the attitudes to the causes of juvenile delinquency which were current at the time, and demonstrates how their case was exploited for the purpose of deterring potential young offenders. Some members of the community now argued that less energy should be devoted to catching young delinquents and more to preventing children becoming delinquents in the first place. As the history of the school written by the Headmaster, John Wood, points out, it was because the Tron Riot had 'disclosed the lamentable extent of youthful depravity' in the city that the clergy had taken steps to provide for 'the Education, and particularly the Religious Education of the poor'.
