 Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill is taking forward the plans |
The Scottish government has begun work on plans to release the names and pictures of sex offenders who have gone on the run. It said the move was a "useful" way of finding potentially dangerous offenders who failed to stick to the terms of their registration.
The announcement came after a meeting between First Minister Alex Salmond and Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie.
They also discussed using satellite tracking for serious offenders.
'All bets off'
Work is underway with the police and prosecutors to deliver the publishing scheme "in the coming months".
The meeting, also attended by Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken and Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, also approached the issue of making offenders face lie detector tests.
"We recognise the deeply held fears many communities have about the risks that sex offenders present," said Mr MacAskill.
"Sex offenders need to take responsibility for their actions. When they decide to disappear then all bets are off with regard to how we find them."
Mr Aitken added: "This was an extremely helpful and constructive meeting. At the end of the day what we all want to achieve is to greater public confidence in the system for monitoring sex offenders."
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