Mike Nellis: Fines and community payback may prove more effective sanctions

THE annual publication of statistics on criminal proceedings – like stats on crime itself – is either an occasion for crowing or damage limitation on the part of government. This year is no exception, but there is always a bigger picture behind the headlines.

The crowing has largely been about the increasing length of custodial sentences for knife carrying, which has risen by 21 per cent since 2005-6. Jail terms for this have increased by two-thirds in two years. This should mean that the clamour for longer sentences dies down until we can work out what effect this is having on knife crime, and what its significance is amidst all the educational and preventive effort that is also being put into this.

Thirteen per cent of convictions led to a custodial sentence, a 1 per cent increase in the overall use of prison on last year. Many people will be surprised that the proportionate use of custody is so low. But the question can still be asked of the 16,900 people who entered prison last year: did they all need to go?

The arguments of the Scottish Prison Commission for reduced use of such short sentences remains compelling, if challenging to those tasked with creating alternatives. Short sentences offer only the briefest respite to victims, and do nothing to address the multiple problems that persistently lead people to prison in the first place.

Only 14 per cent of convictions lead to community sentences (mostly probation and community service, with some drug treatment and testing orders, supervised attendance centres and electronic monitoring). This represents a 7 per cent increase on 2007-8, but such measures remain massively underused.

Perhaps proposed new combinations of community measures will achieve an increase in their use? This is the hope of the Community Payback Order in the current Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill. Evidence about the use of its English equivalent, introduced a few years ago, does not augur well, and most criminologists will tell you there is more to reducing the use of custody than reshaping community penalties.

It is often forgotten that the most common penalty used in Scottish courts is the fine – 58 per cent in 2008-9. This constitutes a 10 per cent decline in its use since 1999-2000. The reason given is the increasing use of fines by the police and fiscals, an extra-judicial strategy intended to increase the efficient administration of justice, although many sentencers feel it has usurped their authority.

• Mike Nellis is a professor of criminal and community justice at the Glasgow School of Social Work, Strathclyde University.