Violent crime by children in Scotland at record levels says shock new report

Daily Record

6 days ago

A shock new Scottish Government report shows that violence by children - including assaults on teachers - accounted for a third of all violent crimes last year
Violent crime by children - including attacks on teachers - is at record levels according to a shock new report.
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The annual Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS), carried out for the Scottish Government, found attacks by under 16's which took place in the victim's workplace accounted for 23 percent of all violent crimes last year.
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Up from five per cent in both 2019/20 and 2021/22. The study then revealed that workplace based violent crimes involving children appeared to be 'mainly against workers in education or care roles'.
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No details were given of the types of attacks on teachers but the report said 87 percent of all violent crime across Scotland involved assaults or attempted assaults with eight percent coming in the serious assault category.
Yesterday there were calls for the Scottish Government to take urgent action to stem the rising tide of violence in the classroom with one union saying they would consider industrial action if nothing is done.
Mike Corbett National Official of the NASUWT teachers union said: "There is no doubt that these figures capture some of the issues facing teachers in Scotland's schools at the moment and echo the findings of our own surveys, all of which confirm that there has been an increase in violent and abusive behaviour from pupils towards teachers in recent years.
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"The Scottish Government, recognised the problem and published a Joint Action Plan on Relationships and Behaviour in August last year to try and help to address this. Regrettably, when surveyed in January this year about the Action Plan, only four percent of NASUWT members in Scotland had been made aware of it by their local authority or school.
"It is vital that the Action Plan is properly embedded in Scotland's schools this academic year. "If not, NASUWT will not hesitate to support members in taking industrial action to protect their health and safety, wherever necessary."
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Earlier this year the union raised concerns of members at Kirkintilloch High School in East Dunbartonshire over the numbers of attacks on staff who claimed that the pupils responsible faced no consequences for their abusive and violent behaviour.
An spokesperson for the EIS teaching union added;"Violence in schools, including assaults on teachers and other school staff, is a serious issue which has become even more acute in recent years.
"This has come into particularly sharp focus in the years since the pandemic, with a growing number of young people living in challenging circumstances and this can sometimes lead to inappropriate behaviour in schools, including violence in extreme cases.. "There is a need for greater support for school staff to help manage pupil behaviour.
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"Where violent incidents do occur, schools must have robust procedures in place to deal with these incidents and must offer support to the staff concerned. "
A total of 231,000 violent crimes were suffered by adults in 2023/24 according to the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey y. Of that total the proportion of offenders under the age of 16 was almost a third (31 per cent).
More than treble the 2021/22 figure at eight percent. The SCJS report said it was unusual to see such a large change in one year. It added:'The increase in violent crime is being driven by more occurring in a victim's workplace, and those involving perpetrators under the age of 16."
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Scottish Labour Justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill said: "It is quite clear that the SNP Government have no answers to tackle this serious trend. "Despite the summits they have had on youth crime there has been nothing of substance in the action they plan to take.
"It is obvious there needs to be an injection of resources to increase early intervention programmes, using tried and tested ways of setting young people on a better path."
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Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and former youth worker Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:""While acts of violence require a strong response, punishing predominantly law-abiding young people cannot be only broader solution.
"We need youth work to pre-empt and prevent those acts, to properly engage young people in society and lay the foundations for them to succeed in life.'
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The SCJS study was based on 4,970 interviews with adults aged 16 and over in Scotland, conducted between July 2023 and April last year.
Justice Secretary Angela Constance said 'The Scottish Government is taking decisive action to tackle youth violence through our comprehensive Violence Prevention Framework, backed by over £6 million in targeted investment since May 2023.
"We have also increased funding to the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit to £1.2 million this year to deliver increased activity to help steer young people away from violence including knife crime.
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"I recently chaired a cross-party meeting on youth violence with the First Minister and we are actively developing additional measures to support young people, families and communities.
Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Mark Sutherland added :"Violence in any environment, including schools, is entirely unacceptable."
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In the last two years the Daily Record has highlighted the growing problem of teacher attacks and youth violence as part of "Our Kids...Our Future Campaign."
In June we reported how a pupil who left a teacher scarred for life in a savage attack walked free from court. Kieran Matthew, 18, dumped Carol Shaw head-first on a concrete floor at St Paul's Academy in Dundee and left her in a pool of blood.
He then put his feet up on a desk and said: 'That stupid cow deserved it.' The city's sheriff court heard how Matthew, who has ADHD was being educated outside mainstream classes, lashed out after refusing to get changed alone. Matthew was told that the teacher attack merited 18 months in custody.
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However, he was instead put under social work supervision for three years and placed on a curfew for 12 months.
In another incident in May, 2023 a teacher was left lying on the floor of a corridor at Taylor High School in Motherwell school corridor after he was allegedly attacked by a pupil. A 13-year-old male was later charged in connection with the incident.
We also told that same month of how a Primary School teacher attacked in a classroom was left with a lifechanging disability and unable to hold his newborn baby.
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The man, who asked not to be named, said that staff were frightened to report violent attacks taking place in schools due to a "toxic culture of teacher blaming".
Another teacher said they frequently struggle to deliver lessons due to constant disruption in the classroom.
He said: "We have fire alarms being set off regularly, pupils running around corridors during class time, some causing disruption by coming into lessons they are not timetabled for or just defiantly not coming to their lesson at all."