NCJ Number
96973
Journal
Youth and Society Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: (September 1984) Pages: 29-45
Date Published
1984
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Scotland's system for reducing the formal processing of juvenile delinquents apparently has avoided widening the net of social control, but this does not, of itself, indicate the viability of juvenile diversion.
Abstract
Established in 1971 as a result of the 1964 report of the Kilbrandon Committee, the Scottish juvenile diversion system involves the use of a reporter, who acts as a screening agent to determine whether cases referred by the police require disposition by a lay panel. The voluntary panels consist of three persons from the community. Panelists are people with knowledge or experience in dealing with children's problems. The child, one or both parents, and a representative of their choice, if they wish, are present. Although this system casts a potentially wide net for troublesome youth, it has operated as true diversion. Referrals to reporters by the police have dropped from over 31,000 in 1974 to under 26,000 in 1974. About half of the children referred to reporters currently are referred on to panel hearings. The ratio of children referred to reporters and those prosecuted in court has widened from 7 to 1 to 16 to 1 between 1974 and 1979. The system's central features are the usurpation of the role of the police by the reporter, the use of diversion hearings as the norm rather than as a subsidiary choice, and the lack of competition between agencies for clients as a result of the scarcity of treatment resources. Notes and a list of 27 references are supplied.