Sentencing and Penal Policy Commission - call for evidence: analysis of responses

Appendix A: Wider comments on Scotland’s criminal justice system

As noted at the start of Chapter 3: Community Sentencing, several respondents used Q1 to leave comments about other aspects of Scotland’s criminal justice system. This appendix provides an overview of those views and suggestions.

Several respondents, around a third of whom were individuals, highlighted perceived issues with the current justice system at Q1. While this was a commonly mentioned theme, specific points within it were raised by smaller numbers and were of less direct relevance to the question.

The main concerns raised related to workloads of prison officers, police and justice social workers etc., the lack of community support, the negative impact of prisons on people, and continuing high levels of incarceration despite increasing use of community sentences. The available funding not reflecting the increase in community disposals was also highlighted, as was the increasing length of custodial sentences. Inequity in provision and in sentences in different parts of the country was noted. Other issues raised included:

• Variable provision of forensic community health services.
• The increasing role of the police in managing community sentences, which could become unsustainable, and justice teams being extremely stretched with report requests, with too much time spent on assessment and not enough on delivering interventions.
• Different risk assessments being used for court reports across Scotland.
• Conditions in prisons creating an unstable environment and creating risks to the safety of people in prison, e.g. drug use, overcrowding, lack of access to purposeful activity and rehabilitation activity.
• That young people having contact with the criminal justice system can increase the likelihood of offending behaviours, or that prisons were not suitable places for women with dependent children.
• People in prison wanting to progress with their lives but not having opportunities to do so.
• The lack of timely reviews when evidence changes to ensure people are not held in prison longer than necessary.
• Boredom caused by a lack of purposeful activity fuelling drug use in prisons.
• Concerns that social workers can show bias towards making recommendations they know from experience a particular Sheriff is likely to impose, limiting the range of sentencing options that could be used.
• One respondent’s view that ‘independence’ should not be able to be cited by the judiciary as a reason for over-use of custodial sentences.

“Over one in four people released from prison reoffend within one year, illustrating the failure of prisons to rehabilitate. Human rights bodies have also repeatedly noted in their inspections or reviews of Scottish prisons that overcrowding and poor living conditions are detrimental to almost all outcomes of prison, including the right to fresh air, to two hours of meaningful contact, to access to relevant purposeful activity, to healthcare and rehabilitation….” - Parkhead Citizens Advice Bureau

“Sentencing also needs to change. There is anecdotal evidence that suggests prison is preferred if the person in the dock has previously served a jail term. We need to move away from this attitude. We would suggest the introduction of a separate sentencing court.” - Prison Expert Group

Other suggestions that did not directly answer questions included:

• Recognising that smaller establishments often have better links to the community, and that ‘community-facing prisons’ should be created, to enable greater community connection.
• To appoint a Prisoners’ Commissioner to represent the interests of people in prison and influence change within the Scottish Prison Service and Scottish Government on their behalf.