INTRODUCTION

The most striking point about offending by juveniles during the period of the Scottish Parliament's existence is the political capital which “dealing with the problem” is perceived to create. The past ten years have been a period in which the media have affirmed and reaffirmed the “problem” of out-of-control youth. While this account has not gone unchallenged, it can be said to have been dominant and it has given governments, both in Westminster and Holyrood, the opportunity to be seen to be taking a firm stance. Such “toughness” is often seen as the province of New Labour – the follow-up to Tony Blair's 1997 election mantra that his party would be “tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime”. Almost as soon as the party was first elected nationally, Jack Straw, the then Home Secretary, “unveiled the biggest crackdown on youth crime for fifty years”. It is interesting, therefore, that a similarly robust approach was taken in Scotland, given that, for the first eight years of its existence, the Holyrood Parliament was in the hands of a New Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition. The next chapter in the ongoing youth justice narrative is provided by the shift to an SNP-led administration in May 2007 when the rhetoric softens and a perspective which recognises the interests of young offenders themselves is reintroduced into the debate. These administrations will be identified by the titles they conferred on themselves: the “Scottish Executive” for the Labour/LibDem coalition and the “Scottish Government” for the period when the SNP has been in (minority) control.