News In Focus
8 December 2005
Justice Minister backs sentencing split proposal
The Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson is backing a plan to divide court setences between prison and community work.
A debate on criminal justice reform takes place today at Holyrood. Other proposals to be discussed include bringing offenders back to court towards the end of their sentences to reassure judges and the public that community orders have been carried out, and badging repainted walls, new public gardens and well-maintained playgrounds as work done by offenders.
Ms Jamieson also wants to make fines easier to pay, with the introduction of one national collection agency, while helping to reduce the number of people who default on paying fines and end up in prison.
She has warned, however, that ending the automatic early release of prisoners sentenced to less than four years will have to be phased in because of the pressure this would put on the prison service.
The Sentencing Commission, chaired by High Court judge Lord Macfadyen, is due to report to Holyrood in the next few weeks. The part prison/part community order proposal is one of its ideas. Ms Jamieson has indicated that she finds the idea very interesting, and that sometimes the distinction between a custodial sentence and a community sentence "isn't all that helpful".
She added that proper monitoring of the programmes would be a priority to reassure everyone that community orders were being carried out effectively.