What the law says

The Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Act is a law which says that a child under the age of 12 cannot be responsible for committing an offence.

This means that some people do not have to disclose information about how they behaved before they were 12.

It affects:

• people with convictions they got before they were 12
• people with certain behaviours from before they were 12
• some of Disclosure Scotland's processes
• what Disclosure Scotland may disclose about people

What this means for disclosures

It means that information about the way you behaved before you were 12 will not appear on a:

• basic disclosure
• standard disclosure

Following a review process, Disclosure Scotland may include it on:

• an enhanced disclosure
• a Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme record

Help

If you have a question that's not answered in this guide, email: DSPolicyTeam@disclosurescotland.gov.scot.