Victim Research – understanding the experiences of individuals harmed by children referred to the Reporter

The Scottish Children Reporter Administration and Victim Support Scotland have been asked to undertake research to support the implementation of the recently passed Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024.

The Act changes the meaning of the word ‘child’ in the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 to ‘any person under the age of 18, and therefore extends the protection of the Children’s Hearings System and Kilbrandon principles to all children under the age of 18.

The Act also makes changes to the rules governing the information that can be provided to those harmed by children who are referred to the Children’s Reporter and how that information should be provided. It is the implementation of those provisions that the research aims to address.

The aim of this study is to gather views on the type of information and supports that should be available to those who are harmed by children and about how we can effectively balance the rights children who harm and those that they harm can be balanced.

There are two parts to this study:

We want to speak to victims, adults and children, over the age of 13, about their experiences of being offered information and support when harmed by a child who was referred to the Children’s Reporter. Where the victim is another child, we would like to speak to parents and guardians about their views if children are under the age of 1, or don’t feel comfortable speaking to the research team. We want to explore views about what information and support services victims were offered and what and how they would have liked services to be provided. To help us understand more about how victim services are being used we would also like to speak to individuals who choose not to receive information and support from victims’ services.

We also want to gather the views of young people who have committed an offence. This includes both those who have been referred to the Reporter and those who have had their needs addressed through different routes such as early and effective intervention pathways or court proceedings. We will explore their views on how their information is currently shared with those they harm and how it will be shared in the future. We will also explore their understanding of how the rights of victims and children who cause harm can be balanced. We will also speak to adults with experience of working with these groups to explore these issues.

We are currently working to identify appropriate adults and young people to participate in the research. If you or your organisation would like to participate in the research, please email judy.warburton@scra.gov.uk or call 07407 795263. You can also email getinvolved@victimsupportsco.org.uk.

There is a briefing sheet available with more information.