MORE than 1000 children were jailed in Greater Glasgow, the highest rate in Scotland. 

Nearly 6,000 children were held overnight in police cells in the past three years - including three kids below the age of prosecution. Some were caged for minor offences including boozing in sports facilities and owning fake IDs. 

Figures obtained via freedom of information laws show 5,996 children were held overnight between 2018 and 2020.

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Greater Glasgow saw the most detentions (1,302), followed by Lanarkshire (786), and Edinburgh (507). The fewest were in Dumfries and Galloway (139).

The age of prosecution in Scotland is 12 years old, but stats showed some 95 children aged 13 or under were among those held overnight in police cells, between 2018 and 2020.

Three children under the age of 11 were held, and 1,518 children were in custody for more than 24 hours.

Out of all those detained, close to half (2,979) of children were held overnight for between eight and 24 hours.

The Children and Young People's Centre for Justice (CYCJ) said the “shocking” practice highlighted “obvious failures” - and warned some kids were being strip-searched.

The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYPCS) said it was “deeply concerned.”

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The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) states that the deprivation of a child’s liberty should only be a “last resort,” and for the shortest appropriate period of time.

MSPs voted unanimously this month to incorporate the convention into domestic law.

Police Scotland said children were only detained overnight in its custody in “exceptional circumstances,” but admitted the numbers involved were “higher than we would wish.”

The figures show that over the three year period, the number of children being held overnight was rising before the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2018, some 301 children aged 11 to 15 were detained, rising to 373 in 2019. The figure dropped to 248 last year.

The totals jump sharply when those aged 16 or 17 - classed as children under the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 - were included.

Some 1,892 in that age group were held in 2018, increasing to 1,895 in 2019, then falling to 1,287 last year.

Claire Lightowler, director of the CYCJ, said: “This evidence highlights that children are not being responded to appropriately across the justice system with obvious failures to take their status as a child into consideration.

“Children should only be in police custody when there is no other place of safety available and where it is absolutely necessary for them to be deprived of their liberty.”

She said that given the CYCJ’s own research found children were being strip searched in custody, there was a “fundamental problem.”

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She added: “There is a need for a significant programme of work to ensure children's rights are being upheld when they come into contact with the police."

Dr Tracy Kirk, a law lecturer and children’s rights academic at Glasgow Caledonian University, said children’s rights had been “breached.”

Dr Kirk said: “These statistics suggest the need for a culture change within Police Scotland to ensure those under 18 are treated as children first and foremost.

“The UNCRC incorporation bill places additional duties upon public authorities to act in a manner which upholds the rights of children.”

The most common crimes in connection with the detentions were abusive behaviour or assault, but included minor offences, such as possession of false ID, or being found with alcohol in a sports ground.

Some 125 children were arrested in connection with shoplifting, and four failed to comply with coronavirus regulations.

The figures do not specify whether children were arrested in connection with those offences in isolation, or if other alleged crimes were a factor.

Nick Hobbs, head of advice and investigations at the CYPCS, said: “When police deprive children of their liberty it must only be a measure of last resort, must take place for the shortest possible time and should always be in an age-appropriate facility.

“We intend to seek further information from Police Scotland including by raising directly with the independent advisory group.”

Scottish Labour’s justice spokesman, Neil Bibby, said if statutory services lacked resources to accommodate children, the Scottish Government should “urgently establish why.”

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr, said the “sheer scale” of children being detained overnight was “surprising and cause for some concern.”

Scottish Lib Dems spokesman Liam McArthur described the practice of “locking up 11-year-olds” as “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”

Police Scotland’s assistant chief constable, Kenny MacDonald, said children were only held in custody “in the most serious of cases,” based on public safety, or due to a lack of local authority accommodation.

He added: “The availability of places of safety is subject to regular discussion with local authority partners and the number of children requiring to be held in police custody has decreased over the preceding three years.

"However it remains higher than we would wish."

An SNP spokesman said: "Children are only kept in police custody as a last resort. In terms of current operational practice, Police Scotland attempts to ensure that all children and young people are kept in custody for as short a time as possible.

"When very minor crimes are committed, it is common for children not to be taken to a custody centre at all but rather taken home and, if deemed necessary, cautioned and charged in front of their parents or carers.”