A public hearing will be held in September

Children's charity NCH Scotland is setting up a website to receive responses from people across Scotland.

The inquiry is being chaired by the former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, and was prompted by criticisms that the Scottish children's hearings system was "too soft" on crime.

There have also been complaints of wide variations in decision making and poor resourcing.

The inquiry will collect evidence over the next three months to be presented at a public hearing organised jointly by NCH and Stirling Council in September.

What we need is a dispassionate examination of this issue and that is what we hope the inquiry will achieve Richard Holloway, Bishop of Edinburgh

A final report will then be compiled by the inquiry panel on the best way forward for Scotland.

Bishop Holloway will be joined by leading historian Professor Tom Devine of Aberdeen University; Kaliani Lyle, chief executive of Citizen's Advice Scotland and journalist and broadcaster Ruth Wishart.

They will consult with a panel of young people, who will also be involved in examining the available evidence, in producing the final report.

Bishop Holloway said: "The Scottish election campaign has shown that there is a mood among most of the main political parties for a tougher approach to the problem of youth crime.

"There are proposals for more curfews, greater use of youth courts and for punishing the parents of offenders. However, is there any evidence that this will work?

Youth crime has been a key election issue

"Scotland has some of the highest rates of imprisonment of young people in Europe yet we have not solved the problem of youth crime.

"What we need is a dispassionate examination of this issue and that is what we hope the inquiry will achieve."

Maggie Mellon, head of public policy for NCH Scotland, said: "We want to find out what people in Scotland think needs to be done.

"We want to hear from as many people as possible to help the inquiry ask the right questions and produce the right answers."

The inquiry has also appointed an advisory panel made up of experts in childcare, law and social welfare.

Submissions can be made by e-mail directly to the NCH consultation site, which launches from next week at www.nch.org.uk/kilbrandonnow, or in writing to Kilbrandon Now, 17 London Road, Edinburgh EH7 5AT.

All submissions have to be in by the end of July.