MINISTERIAL FOREWORD
The people of Scotland deserve a first-class justice system that is fair, swift and has public safety at its heart. Our justice system must reflect the understandable desire of victims and their families to know precisely what sentences will mean in practice. They want to know that effective punishment will take place but that offenders will also have to face up to the consequences of their actions.
A number of major reforms are already underway - the most extensive programme of reform in a generation. We have strengthened powers to deal with antisocial behaviour and knife crime, sectarianism, and violence. Modernised police services are allowing more police to spend more time patrolling neighbourhoods, and preventing and clearing up crimes. We've transformed the High Court - with changes to summary (non-jury) processes already in progress. And the Management of Offenders etc (Scotland) Act 2005 put in place important new measures that require the various criminal justice agencies to work together to reduce reoffending.
All vital measures - but public confidence must be improved by greater clarity about sentences, their length, and their meaning. That's why it is so crucial that we deliver on our commitment to end automatic unconditional early release and to do so in an informed and measured way that puts in place a clearer system that will ensure management of sentences tailored directly at the offence and the offender.
The Sentencing Commission was asked to review the current arrangements in the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993 covering the release of offenders. The Commission's report published in January 2006 has helped shape the proposals in this paper, and I am grateful for this work.
Creating a framework which ensures effective punishment, safety of the public and offender rehabilitation is no easy matter. Jurisdictions across the world struggle with the problem. I do not believe we will ever reach a situation where every sentence will be accepted by every party in every case - but it is my aim that we have a system where every sentence will mean what it says and will be understood.
There will be some in our society for whom prison will always be the ultimate way of reducing risk to the public. Prisons will always be the appropriate place to punish serious or serial criminals. Yet we also know that for some offenders those prisons - no matter how secure or well run they are - will not be the most effective way to influence offending behaviour, or to break patterns of offending. That's why we need an appropriate, and clearly defined, mix of custodial and community approaches - to ensure that the transition back to life in the community is supervised appropriately and that prison offers opportunities for rehabilitation. And that's why we need to move from the present system of automatic, unconditional early release.
The new arrangements for releasing offenders in Scotland set out within this document are not simply about change for change's sake. We need to break the cycle of offending - particularly for the persistent young offenders - if we are to make our communities safer in the long-term. That long-term ambition is what drives our reform programme. Not just a quick fix for today but an answer to the problems that have haunted us for decades.
These proposals are about delivering what the people of Scotland tell us they want - and clearly deserve. An effective and efficient justice system. Protection for our communities. Joined-up services bringing law and order to chaotic lives. And above all, a safer, stronger Scotland.
Cathy Jamieson MSP
Minister for Justice