Supporting children through the justice system

Involvement in the justice system can be a difficult and upsetting experience for children and young people.

We work to influence legislation and measures in the justice system to ensure that they are child-centred, and that the rights and wellbeing of children are respected at all times.

We have worked with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and the Scottish Court Service to discuss how their policy and practice can be better for child victims and witnesses. Children and young people who use Children First abuse and trauma recovery services sometimes are victims or witnesses in a court trial. We use some of their experiences of the justice system as (anonymous) case study examples when we meet with justice organisations, to explain what could be done better.

We were successful in arguing for a number of new procedures to be introduced through the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act that will go some way to ensuring the wellbeing and protection of children in the justice system. But much more can and should be done.

We will continue to work with the necessary agencies to guarantee that the needs of children and young people in the justice system are heard, acknowledged, and acted upon.

The Scandinavian model of the Barnahus, which literally means 'child's house', demonstrates a way for children's involvement in the justice system to be more efficient and sensitive to children's trauma. 

The Child’s House provides all the care and support a child and their family need under one roof. By uniting the care and justice response, a child’s best evidence is captured, without harm and without prejudicing a fair trial. 

There are many lessons to be learnt from the Barnahus approach and we have discussed how these can be applied to the Scottish system in the writing below.

• Blog: Our justice system through children's eyes - what's the verdict?

This can mean they have to relive what has happened to them up to 14 times to different people in different places. Sometimes they may not be able to have a family member or loved one with them, making the experience even more difficult.

In fact, many young people have told us that what happens after a crime has been reported can be more traumatic for them than the crime itself.

Take a look at this graphic which shows who a child may currently need to speak to and why.

The Bairns Hoose means that a child victim or witness of crime will only need to tell their story two or three times at most and one of these times will be recorded to be used in the justice process. This will remove long waits for a case to go to court, which can make it even more difficult for a young person to recover and thrive from what has happened to them.