Mr McConnell wants to instil confidence

Jack McConnell stressed that while independence of the judiciary should be recognised, he could not ignore rising public anger at seemingly lenient sentences.

In a keynote speech in Edinburgh, Mr McConnell warned the legal establishment that "the court system will only enjoy the respect of the public if it gets sentencing right".

It was the first minister's latest intervention in justice matters following the public outcry over a controversial sentence passed on a man who raped a baby.

Respecting the independence of the judiciary does not mean that government can abdicate its responsibility to reflect the concerns of the public Jack McConnell

The lord advocate has been considering whether or not the five-year prison sentence handed down to James Taylor by the judge Lord Reed was "unduly lenient".

Speaking following the controversy earlier this month, Mr McConnell said that court sentences "must fit the crime" if the judicial system is to retain public confidence.

In the speech to people working within the justice system on Tuesday evening, the first minister said: "Nothing probably exercises the collective mind of the public, and the voice of the press, more than the issue of sentencing.

"Respecting the independence of the judiciary does not mean that government can abdicate its responsibility to reflect the concerns of the public.

"All of us who serve the public must be accountable for our decisions."

He added that judges must reflect the values of society and the times we live in, both through sentencing and by working to make sure that courts are more efficient and accessible.

Sentencing commission

Mr McConnell said that while Scottish justice had been revered for almost 900 years, it must be prepared to move with the times.

"We have a shared responsibility to face the difficult issues, confront the obstacles to change and find solutions to make in building a criminal justice we can be proud of," he said.

Analysts say Mr McConnell has made the modernisation of the criminal justice system a cornerstone of his executive.

The Scottish Executive confirmed Mr McConnell will also outline reforms already in the pipeline including plans for a sentencing commission and the executive's Anti-Social Behaviour Bill.

Annabel Goldie: "End automatic early release"

Labour MSP Pauline McNeill, who chairs Holyrood's Justice 1 Committee, said that while reforms have been introduced there is an acceptance that changes are needed.

She told BBC Radio Scotland: "The public experience long delays if you are a witness and we know up until now that victims haven't been treated that well.

"What Jack McConnell is getting at is looking at it from the ordinary person's point of view there are some things that will need fixing."

However, Tory MSP Annabel Goldie, convener of the Justice 2 Committee, said the justice system was not solely to blame.

She said: "To pretend that court procedures, systems and the attitude of the judiciary are the main elements of the problem is ridiculous.

One of the big problems in the justice system over the last number of years has been chronic under-resourcing Nicola Sturgeon SNP MSP

"The main elements are, going right back to community level, we do need more police, we do need more resource going into the Crown Office and prosecution services and we certainly need to look at sentencing."

Ms Goldie said the reform needed in sentencing was an end to automatic early release.

Scottish National Party justice spokeswoman Nicola Sturgeon said: "Everybody knows there are problems in the justice system.

"It's often too slow and it doesn't serve the interests of victims or those accused of crime particularly well, but there are measures before the Scottish Parliament to improve matters.

"What I think is particularly unhelpful about Jack McConnell's speech is his all-too-typical tendency to blame those in the front line for all the problems and not take any of the responsibility himself.

Independence warning

"One of the big problems in the justice system over the last number of years has been chronic under-resourcing and that's a problem of politicians making and it's politicians that will have to solve that."

The Scottish Socialist Party accused Mr McConnell of following Margaret Thatcher's law and order agenda of the 1980s.

"Criminologists the world over agree that there is no evidence that increasing sentences has any kind of deterrent effect, all it does is fill up the prisons," said the party's justice spokesman Colin Fox.

Derek Ogg QC, of the Scottish Bar Criminal Law Group, said that judges should be a guarantee against the public and politicians "running mad with their ideas".