Jail threat for offenders' parents

Ministers want to target a hard core of offenders

Proposals which could see parents jailed if they fail to stop their children breaking the law are being considered by the Scottish Labour Party.

Ministers say they are looking at imprisonment as "a last resort".

But opposition parties have accused Labour of stealing their ideas.

There is a small number of young people who continually cause problems and we must look at finding ways of addressing that

Cathy Jamieson

The power already exists to jail the parents of persistent truants in Scotland.

However, the wider measures being discussed by Labour - and which could form part of its manifesto for next year's Holyrood election - would also take in criminal behaviour.

Cathy Jamieson, the minister for education and young people, said the party wanted to tackle a hard core of persistent young offenders.

"There is a small number of young people who continually cause problems and we must look at finding ways of addressing that," she told BBC Scotland.

"We also have to recognise that young people themselves are often the victims in these cases."

Help and support

She said a programme had to be in place to address the causes of the problems and offer help to parents.

"It is very important to see this in the context of an overall strategy," said the minister.

"This isn't a knee-jerk reaction to a problem."

She said Labour wanted to ensure that parents received help and support when they were having difficulties.

"But at the end of the day we also want to make it clear that parents also have responsibilities for their children.

"I would hope that we can put together a range of strategies and it would be very much as a last resort that we would look at taking such serious action."

Labour's coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, said that jailing parents of truanting children was "not necessarily the most sensible solution".

When it came to the idea of extending the measure to young offenders, a party spokesman said: "There isn't any evidence to suggest that this is a useful way to go."

Both the Scottish National Party and the Tories are claiming that Labour is stealing their clothes on youth crime.

Parental responsibility

SNP justice spokeswoman Roseanna Cunningham said: "There is a real debate to be had about whether or not locking up parents is the appropriate way to deal with this.

"But I think we do have to address the issue of parental responsibility, which is why the SNP flagged it up in advance of the last election and put it in our manifesto.

"It is about making parents take responsibility for their children."

Last week the party proposed making the parents of young offenders pay compensation, either in cash or by carrying out community service.

Many parents are out of their depth and to some degree out of control

Phil Gallie

The SNP also suggested doubling the number of places in secure accommodation for youngsters to 200.

Tory MSP Phil Gallie said his party had been highlighting the issue of youth crime for "the last seven or more years".

He said that the jailing of parents would be justified in some cases.

"Many parents are out of their depth and to some degree out of control," he said.

"For some at their wits end the only solution could be turning youngsters out of their homes or demanding they be taken into care.

"Where no interest in taking responsibility for the actions of their children is evident and has been demonstrated, jailing could prove both a deterrent to others and an awakening for that parent."