To help you keep track of the average number of children and young people on remand in Young Offenders Institutions/prison in Scotland, we have taken steps at CYCJ to improve how we track this data. Every month, we have been updating two accessible spreadsheets which calculate the number of children and young people in YOI/prison, including the percentage of children on remand in YOI/prison over time, to help better understand the trends. However, the numbers of children in custody have reduced significantly and in January 2023 there were only 5 children on average in custody. As the number of children is so few, we will now only produce one accessible spreadsheet for all those under 21 years. We will of course continue to monitor the number of children in custody. This will be shared via our e-bulletin and updated on here.
To view remand statistics for children aged under 18 up until and including December 2022, click HERE.
Please note that children can also be placed on remand (and sentenced) in secure care in Scotland. We cannot access complete data, so it is not included here. We refer to YOI/prison because occasionally children on remand are placed in prisons rather than a YOI, but this is relatively rare.
If you have any questions, or would like to discuss this work further, please email cycj@strath.ac.uk
Latest remand statistics for children and young people aged under 21
(The graph include comparisons of the monthly average number of children and young people held in YOIs/Prisons from 2016-2023 and how these numbers have changed each year for different groups).
Useful resources and reading
Use and impact of bail and remand with children in Scotland (December 2020)
‘Not cut out for prison’: Depriving children of their childhood (joint blog with the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, November 2020).