News In Focus
20 June 2008
Courts can no longer protect public, sheriff says
A sheriff criticised the early release of offenders from custody under the home detention curfew scheme when a repeat offender appeared before him yesterday.
Sheriff Robert Dickson, who is also President of the Sheriffs Association, made his remarks in relation to Jason Jarvie, who was sentenced to 15 months' detention last year for offences of violence, disorder, dishonesty and drug misuse, and released four and a half months later despite a previous history of breaching court orders.
Jarvie, aged 20, was fitted with an electronic tag but left his house in breach of his conditions and proceeded to vandalise another house by throwing paint on the front windows and garden path.
Sheriff Dickson said that "some nameless official" had chosen to ignore a judicial decision and turn an apparent blind eye to Jarvie's record in releasing him. Sheriffs could no longer give any assurance that the public would be protected if officials were able to overrule the court without a full briefing.
Under the policy, which is intended to reduce overcrowding in prisons, only low-risk prisoners are supposed to be released. About are currently benefiting from the scheme.