Former law officer praises Scottish prison sentencing

A FORMER top law officer has praised Scottish Government plans for a presumption against the courts handing out prison sentences of less than 12 months.

One-time Advocate General for Scotland Lord Wallace, a former Scottish Justice Minister who is now a Liberal Democrat peer, said: “This is a welcome and imaginative extension of the presumption against short sentences.

“Of course public safety is paramount, but a range of community-based sentences appear more likely to reduce re-offending than short terms of imprisonment, where effective rehabilitation programmes can be difficult to implement.”

The chief inspector of Scottish prisons and penal reform organisations also welcomed the plan revealed in the Scottish Government’s legislative programme.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland David Strang, who previously called for the extension from the current three-month cut-off point, said: “The evidence is clear that a short sentence is not effective at reducing offending.”

Former first minister Henry McLeish, who chaired a commission into the future of Scottish prisons in 2008, said prison was the right place for “serious offenders” but highlighted that 60 per cent of offenders imprisoned for three months or less are re-convicted within a year.