How have attitudes changed towards imprisonment in Scotland?
Attitudes towards imprisonment and the treatment of offenders within prison are changing in Scotland. Over the past few year, the Scottish Government (and advocacy groups such as the Howard League Scotland) have come to think of prison as largely ineffective in rehabilitating offenders.
There is also some evidence that a prison sentence, with subsequent disruption to family life and employment/later employment opportunities, results in an increased chance of reoffending on release.
Continued high imprisonment rates
Despite a greater than 50% drop in the levels of crime over the past three decades (619,943 crimes in 1990s to 289,362 crimes in 2022-23), Scotland’s rate of incarceration remains historically high at 136 people in prison per 100,000 of the general population.
This level was 20th highest in Europe out of 57 countries and compares unfavourably to the European average of about 101 people in prison per 100,000 in the general population.
One reason to explain the continued high levels of imprisonment in Scotland is that although fewer people who are found guilty of a crime are sent to prison, those offenders who are sent to prison are given longer sentences.
In 2012-23 the average length of prison or custodial sentence was 284 days but in 2021-22 this had increased to 376 days, a 32% increase.
Also, the proportion of short sentences of 12 months or less fell from 83% to 73% over the same period. The proportion of longer sentences, over 12 months, increasing from 17% to 27%.
(The most common sentence remains 3-6 months in prison or 31% of all custodial sentences.
How has the Scottish Government tried to reduce incarceration?
The Scottish Government has attempted to reduce incarceration rates by introducing a range of legislation and policies.
In 2010, the Scottish Parliament passed a law which (with some exceptions) ended prison sentences of three months or less. Although not supported by all MSPs – some retain support for short sentences and others wanted the law to end sentences of 6 months or less – the law was seen as a step in the direction of promoting the use of alternatives to prison and to reducing prison overcrowding.
In 2019, the Presumption Against Short Periods of Imprisonment (Scotland) Order 2019 extended this law to end prsion sentences under 12 months. This means that the courts are encouraged but not forced to consider alternative punishments or disposals for offenders who may otherwise have been sentenced to a period of up to 12 months in prison.
The Scottish Parliament has also passed several other important pieces of legislation in recent years to change way in which Scotland’s criminal justice system operates, including The Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 which, among other provisions, established a new national body to oversee community justice – Community Justice Scotland.
