Sentencing reform alone won’t shrink Scotland’s prison population, warns expert

Scotland’s growing prison population cannot be lowered by sentencing reform alone, an expert has warned in a review of Holyrood’s approach to justice during the first 20 years of devolution.
Scotland's prison population is among the highest per head of population in EuropeScotland's prison population is among the highest per head of population in Europe
Scotland's prison population is among the highest per head of population in Europe

A majority of MSPs last week voted to extend the presumption against short sentences handed out in courts north of the Border to 12 months or less, with justice secretary Humza Yousaf telling the chamber that community sentences were “much more effective” for rehabilitation.

Despite reforms, the number of people jailed in Scotland reached a 10-year high this year, while the proportion of people in prison or on probation in the country is consistently ranked as among the highest in Europe.

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Dr Katrina Morrison, a board member on the Scottish branch of the Howard League for penal reform, said tackling the issue could not rely on change “as a result of political action alone”.

“There is a socio-cultural context which sustains Scotland’s penal approach which must also be addressed,” she wrote in a blog for the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR).

“Despite concern over the way we punish in Scotland for many years, policy fixes have so far not had the traction we would hope.

“Perhaps this could be because the story Scottish people tell themselves about who they are, and the values they hold, is not always reflected in the data we have about the way Scottish people feel about a range of social issues.”

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Dr Morrison added that the growth of the prison population was in part down to “a cultural context” in which high rates of incarceration are “sustained and legitimated”.

The lecturer at Napier University said that a recent social attitudes survey found that while three-quarters of Scots admit they have little knowledge of how the country’s legal system operates, the same number still express confidence in how justice is being dispensed.

“Over the past 20 years, some groups have been considered more ‘worthy’ of reform than others,” she continued.

“While penal reforms for young people and women are certainly welcome, and it may indeed be true that these groups have particular needs and routes in and out of the system, the biggest demographic in custody (men with an average age of 33) also have significant prior experiences of exposure to violence, victimisation, and experiences of care as a child.

“Yet the calls for reform for these groups is far less frequently heard.”