New Horizons?

The fourth chapter places the focus on the period 1884-1910, analysing the situation in Scotland at the turn of the century; by this time the statutory system had evolved into a net-widening diversionary mechanism under which thousands of children were detained in institutions of a penal character. An important aim of this chapter is to assess the impact the Children Act 1908 and the introduction of the juvenile court, which means looking beyond this timeframe to the 1920s and 1930s. Crucially, this chapter provides a detailed analysis of archival case studies revealing the way children were dealt with by the courts, including the High Court of Justiciary.