Price of soft justice

FOR the past 13 years, the SnP’s justice agenda has been relentlessly soft touch.

now the legacy of that approach has been laid bare in the Scottish Government’s own figures.

The number of individuals sent behind bars has plunged by 15 per cent since the start of the decade.

Ministers are keen to highlight the independence of the Scottish judiciary – but it hasn’t stopped the politicians interfering in the courts.

Sheriffs’ hands have been bound by diktats with the aim of keeping supposedly lower-level offenders out of jail.

The net result is that hundreds of criminals, including violent thugs, have benefited – let off with warnings or community sentences.

These are poorly managed, and no substitute for a spell behind bars – the ‘short, sharp shock’ that could prove such a powerful deterrent to future offending.

The rights of victims have been overlooked, or indeed held in downright contempt, by successive justice ministers.

Jail is seen as a last resort for offenders, but for communities terrorised by recidivists it provides vital respite – even if it is often far too brief.

Is it any wonder that statistics point to a worrying rise in violent crime, after years of a declining trend?

And coronavirus means that the number of prisoners has fallen further, as courts diverted more convicted criminals away from jail, or granted hundreds of inmates early release.

While it’s true there was an increase in the average daily population in custody in the last couple of years, the overall goal of making jail a no-go zone for all but the worst criminals has been achieved – but at what price?

In the real world, long-suffering victims of crime long ago lost faith in a system that seems designed to marginalise them.