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Management of offenders
17/12/2008
New plans setting out how the Scottish Government will manage offenders in the future and 'put public safety at their heart' were announced today.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said that replacing ineffective short sentences with tough community orders signed off before the offender leaves court will help reduce reoffending.
The main elements of the plans, which include a response to the Prisons Commission report, include:
- The introduction of a new Community Payback Sentence which offenders will sign off before they leave court with unpaid work starting within a week and finished within six months
- Legislation to make clear that judges should not impose a custodial sentence of six months or less unless they feel there is no other option
- Allowing judges to hold review hearings to check and seek to maintain progress of community sentences
- Making electronic monitoring of a curfew available to judges considering bail
- The creation of a Scottish Sentencing Council to bring greater consistency and transparency to the sentencing process
- Commitment to ending the current system of arbitrary early release once the other elements of the justice plan are implemented. That will ensure offenders sentenced to custody are kept under restriction for the entire length of their sentence
Speaking as he visited vocational training courses at Polmont Young Offenders Institute, the Justice Secretary said:
"It is unacceptable to have a situation where the prison population in Scotland is one of the highest in Europe yet offending rates are at a record low.
"We can't simply build our way out of the problem and new prisons come at the cost of hospitals or schools. We are investing in new prisons - Addiewell opened its doors last week - but we also need to take bold action to stop the revolving door of reoffending
"I won't sit back and see low risk offenders on short sentences get free bed and board when they could be paying back to the communities they harm.
"The facts speak for themselves - 58% of offenders who get a Community Service Order have kept a clean record after two years. This compares with only 26% of those released from prison sentences of six months or less.
"The steps outlined today will help build confidence in those community sentences and make them immediate and of benefit to the communities involved.
"For those who should be in prison, there must be realistic programmes to prevent reoffending, carried out in jails where staff safety is not compromised by overcrowding
"Our vision for a fair, fast and flexible justice system will put public safety at its heart and aims to turn around offending behaviour.
"We will not shy away from taking the bold decisions needed to realise this vision and will work with COSLA, the Criminal Justice Authorities and others who are already delivering first class community integration initiatives."
Councillor Harry McGuigan , COSLA's Spokesperson said:
"We welcome this latest and important step on the road to tackling re-offending and making communities safer.
"We support the Scottish Government's realistic approach to tackling this significant challenge by recognising that it will take some time to deliver on all the aspects of this ambitious plan and that it requires the commitment from all those involved in the delivery of services and from the communities themselves.
"We already have close working relationship with the government and look forward to continuing this productive partnership as CoSLA, the Scottish Government and the Community Justice Authorities work to deliver our shared objective of fewer short prison terms and more offenders paying back to communities for the harm they have done."
"Protecting Scotland's Communities - Fair, Fast and Felxible Justice" outlines the Scottish Government's plans to build on the work already done to improve the Scottish justice system and incorporates the response to the independent Prisons Commission report.
The Scottish Government asked Henry McLeish's Prisons Commission to look into the purpose and impact of imprisonment in contemporary Scotland. It reported on July 1 2008.