Voices in Justice: Parole Reform in Scotland: Consultation Analysis

Footnotes

1 Parole Scotland is the administrative body that supports the Parole Board and is responsible for providing the organisational support needed for the Parole Board to carry out its judicial function – such as managing case files and facilitating parole hearings.

2 An extension to 30 November 2025 was given to allow those in custody additional time to respond.

3 Note that, although most of the paper questionnaires made available within the prison estate were completed by individuals in custody, a small number were completed by other individuals (justice professionals, family members, prison staff, etc.). See Chapter 3 for details.

4 This was not done comprehensively because of the amount of time it would have taken to check the input for every open question.

5 These campaign responses varied to the extent that the respondents stated their interest (as a person in custody, or as a friend / family member of a prisoner) in the consultation at various questions. Additionally, one of the responses provided some additional text at some questions, but the substantive response to the question remained unchanged.

6 It is standard practice to include the text of campaign responses within an annex of the analysis report. This has not been done in this instance because all those submitting a campaign response asked for their response not to be published.

7 Indeterminate cases are life sentences and sentences involving an Order of Lifelong Restriction (OLR).

8 Note that individuals who are eligible for parole are given full details of the reasons for the Parole Board’s decision in all cases. Some respondents in custody may not have known this, especially if they had not yet had their first parole hearing. Others may have experienced having their parole denied, been given the reasons for this, but not understood the information. Others may have thought this question was asking whether this information should continue to be provided in the future.

9 Victim Notification Scheme (VNS): Independent Review.

10 Note that in the prison questionnaire, respondents were able to select multiple options at this question.

11 Of the 34 respondents who selected more than one format: 24 selected two formats; 5 selected three formats; 4 selected four formats; and 1 selected all five formats. The most common combination was ‘a letter and a phone call’.

12 One statutory justice organisation said they had developed a number of blogs and video explainers which had been well received, and they would be happy to share these.

13 Transforming Parole in Scotland: consultation report.

14 In addition to this standard process, in cases where there appears to be an immediate need to protect the public, Scottish Ministers may recall an individual to custody without referring the case to the Parole Board.