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Prisons Commission to back community sentences |
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Monday, 28 January 2008 |
The independent commission into the future of Scotland’s prisons will push to change public perceptions of community sentences as 'soft', commission chair Henry McLeish has said.
Speaking to Holyrood on the first day the commission took evidence, the
former First Minister also indicated he supported the Government’s
decision not to implement the Custodial Sentences and Weapons
legislation passed by the last Parliament until the commission has
reported.
Holyrood Labour leader Wendy Alexander has called on First Minister
Alex Salmond to instruct Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to put the
bill’s provisions, such as ending automatic early release, into action.
McLeish said: "We very much welcome the challenge the Government has set us and I think it shows the maturity of the Government in that they passed a
new piece of legislation, the Custodial Sentences and Weapons Bill, but
before implementing it, they are concerned about the implications of
it, so they have asked us to have a look at it."
On community sentences, McLeish indicated support for the measure: "We
are looking at community options. We have developed them fairly
radically in Scotland and there is an issue with the public and the
press that these are viewed as often 'weak' and not about punishment
and often are seen as soft.
"In reality, they are not. This is a very powerful public perception
that the commission has to respect, but then go in for and see if we
can get the mindset to change. But if the mindset is to change, we have
to ensure that community sentences are tough, and in fact, tougher than
a prison sentence. We have to make sure they are effective and work, we
have to make sure the breaching of various orders we have is kept to a
minimum."
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Last Updated ( Monday, 28 January 2008 )
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