Victims of serious crime hit out over number of early release lifers

Just 227 of the 909 lifers released from jails in Scotland, completed more than 14 years.

However, those released in recent years have typically served longer sentences, with half of those leaving prison in 2009/10 completing at least a 14-year stretch. The sentences, revealed in The Parole Board for Scotland's annual report, have been criticised by victims and MSPs.

David Sinclair, of Victim Support Scotland, said: "Undoubtedly, there will be victims of crime, particularly those of very serious crimes, who are disappointed to discover that in some cases 'life' can be as little as 10 years or even less."

John Lamont, Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, added: "What this report goes to show is that what some people might assume a life sentence to be is often shorter than you would expect."

Richard Baker, Scottish Labour justice spokesman, said: "People will be surprised that so many life sentences amount to fewer than 10 years.

"It is clear that along with Automatic Unconditional Early Release the public need more clarity over sentencing. The public want to see serious criminals do serious time and the lack of transparency in sentencing needs to be addressed."

There were 27 prisoners released early on parole last year, who were then recalled to prison for breaches of their bail conditions. A further 123 prisoners released automatically because they had served two-thirds of their sentence were recalled to prison, because their behaviour was giving rise for concern.

The Scottish Government has passed legislation that would end Automatic Early Release, but has not put it into practice.

Mr Baker said: "Not only did the SNP make a clear promise to end automatic unconditional early release in their 2007 manifesto, Kenny MacAskill was calling for it to happen from opposition. Yet, here we are three and a half years on with Kenny MacAskill in charge and there is no sign of it happening.

"There was no mention of funding this in their recent one-year spending review so it is safe to assume that this is another SNP pledge that has been effectively abandoned.

"If Kenny MacAskill is committed to ending AER then he needs to tell us when he plans to get round to it and if he has ditched it then the public deserve to know."

Robert Brown, Scottish Liberal Democrats justice spokesman, welcomed the recent move towards longer 'life' terms, even though they are still lower on average than in 2002 and 2003.

He said: "Life sentences are almost always for murder. The circumstances of which range widely."It is absolutely right that all the circumstances are carefully assessed and measured by the parole board that will undoubtedly have a strong focus on public safety.

"Very few cases in recent years have seen an early release and this is undoubtedly right.

"Nowadays the parole board are bound by the recommendations on minimum sentence to be served made by the trial judge. This gives a clear indication of the severity of the case in the judge's eyes."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Decisions on sentence length are taken by judges and are based on the circumstances of the particular case. However, it is a fact that the average length of prison sentence for all types of crimes in Scotland has increased, rising by five per cent in 2008-09.

"This fact, combined with a record number of police officers on Scotland's streets, recorded crime at a 32-year low, and a homicide rate at its lowest level since 1979, has helped make Scotland a safer and stronger place."