ABSTRACT
There seems to be a paradox at the heart of Scotland's approach to children who offend against the law. On the one hand, Scotland has abolished its juvenile courts and developed a welfare based tribunal system of lay people to which children can be referred for alleged offences outwith the criminal court process. On the other hand it has one of the lowest ages of criminal responsibility in the world and has retained the right to try children accused of certain categories of crime in the adult criminal courts. This chapter describes the Scottish criminal justice system outlining the courts and relevant personnel. It takes an historical perspective on children within the system and the changes in policy and thinking which culminated in the setting up of the Kilbrandon Committee and the publication of the White Paper Social Work and the Community in 1966. The chapter discusses the radical changes put in place by the Social Work (S) Act 1968.
