Commenting after the Executive published the Youth Justice Improvement Programme, Margaret Mitchell MSP, Scottish Conservative Justice spokesman, said:
“I see a lot of buzzwords and jargon here, such as ‘building community confidence’, and 'reduce specific risks to communities' but very little that details proper measures to tackle youth offending.
“Just last month, reports showed that the number of girls involved in crime has increased by more than 40% in five years, and there has also been a 30% rise in the number of young boys offending too.
“The responsibility to tackle this escalating problem lies fairly and squarely with Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Their pledges to cut youth offending by 10% are now dead in the water and their failures can no longer be hidden behind the blame-game smokescreen.
“Scottish Conservatives have consistently argued for more resources and disposals to be given to children’s hearings, enabling them to intervene more effectively and, crucially, at the earliest possible time. This would include introducing weekend and evening detention, community service, supervised attendance orders and drug treatment and testing orders.
“There is a wider problem here as we live in a society where only 10% of all crimes result in a conviction.”