Part 4: Police Investigatory and Other Powers Chapter 2: Search of children under 12 Changes made by the Act: what this Chapter of the Act does
117.This Chapter of Part 4 of the Act makes provision for the search of children under 12 in two ways. Section 33 applies(60) certain existing statutory search powers, which depend on a person being suspected of committing an offence, to the behaviour of children under 12 despite the fact they are under the age of criminal responsibility. And sections 34 to 38 provide for children under 12 to be searched under the authority of an order of the sheriff where the child has behaved in a violent or dangerous way which caused or could have caused serious physical harm to another person, or who has behaved in a sexually violent or sexually coercive way and caused or risked causing harm.