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Reconviction Rates in Scotland: 2017-18 Offender Cohort

On 6 October 2020, reoffending statistics for 2017-18 were published. They contained detailed analyses of reconviction rates and the average number of reconvictions per offender by: offender characteristics, sentence type, crime type, and local authority.

The latest cohort in the reconvictions statistics is the 2017-18 cohort, with reconvictions counted up to the 31 March 2019 at the latest for this cohort. This was before the extended presumption against short sentences came into force on 4 July 2019.

Key points:

-       the reconviction rate for offenders has fallen to its lowest level since comparable records began

-       the percentage of offenders who were reconvicted in a year was 26.3% – a one percentage point decrease from 27.3% in 2016-17

-       the average number of reconvictions fell from 0.48 to 0.46, a reduction of 4%

-       offenders given a short custodial sentence of one year or less were reconvicted nearly twice as often as those given a Community Payback Order (CPO).

Justice Committee Evidence Session - Covid19 Effects on Criminal Justice System

On 18 August 2020, the Justice Committee took evidence from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and Teresa Medhurst (Interim Chief Executive of SPS). It heard that the court backlog could take 8-10 years to clear; that cell doubling up is returning; that new prison rules will be extended again from the end of September, but won’t include those relating to provision of food, access to showers and clean clothing which are to revert to normal regime; that unpaid work variations are being considered; that unspecified alternatives to remand are being considered; and importantly, a commitment was made not to return to pre-COVID prison population levels with a further executive release to be considered if required.

HMIPS Liaison Visit to HMP Kilmarnock

On 12 August 2020, HMIPS published an inspection report on a Liaison Visit to HMP Kilmarnock. Much of it advised of activities to be re-commenced i.e. at planning, not implementation stage. Again, it advised “Whilst acknowledging that HMP Kilmarnock were providing more time out of cell than we had seen on previous liaison visits, along with allowing prisoners access to a phone while isolated under rule 41 (COVID-19), there is still a tension between the rights set out under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the restrictions having to be imposed”. We are concerned that prisoners' human rights are being breached and that this needs to be addressed directly. We are therefore raising this with HMIPS and partners in the criminal justice system.

Management of Offenders (Scotland) Act - Electronic Monitoring

On 11 August 2020, a Ministerial Statement from the Cabinet Secretary advised of plans to introduce regulations to enable electronic monitoring of bail through the Management of Offenders  (Scotland) Act 2019. We would have liked to have seen this included in the primary legislation to help reduce the number of people being held on remand, however, welcome acknowledgement of the need for secondary legislation to allow for this.

Outstanding Unpaid Work (Community Payback Orders)

On 15 July 2020, Social Work Scotland published an important paper drawing attention to the 700K outstanding hours of unpaid work under community payback orders and imploring the Scottish Government to use secondary legislation to reduce this by 450K hours in order to avoid serious ramifications across the whole criminal justice system. We welcomed this timely intervention, with its insightful comment and detailed modelling.

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