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The Justice Committee has recently published a call for evidence, seeking views on Scottish Government proposals to end automatic early release for some categories of prisoner.
As part of the Stage 2 amendments to the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, the Scottish Government proposes ending automatic early release for sex offenders sentenced to four years or more and other dangerous offenders sentenced to ten years or more.
Other offenders would not be affected at this time and the new system would only apply to relevant offenders sentenced after the reforms are in force.
The Justice Committee will scrutinise Stage 2 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill in late April and is asking for views on these proposed amendments.
Committee Convener Christine Grahame MSP said:
“While we understand the Scottish Government’s intention of minimizing the risk to public safety by ending the automatic early release of some prisoners who may only be two-thirds of the way through their sentence, we want to know why some prisoners and not others would be covered by the changes.
“We want to hear from criminal justice social workers, representatives from the judiciary, penal reform and victims’ organisations, the Scottish Prison Service, the Parole Board for Scotland as well as relevant academics and members of the public about their views on this important public safety issue.”
Contains Scottish Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Scottish Parliament Licence v1.0.
If you require specialist criminal defence advice on sexual offences or any other matter, give us a call on 01383 730466 (Dunfermline) or 01592 640680 (Kirkcaldy) or contact us online here.
