The Scottish Government began consultation on how best to plan, deliver, and manage offender services in Scotland's communities – including community sentences, supporting the rehabilitation of offenders, and reducing reoffending.
Source: Redesigning the Community Justice System: A consultation on proposals, Scottish Government
Links: Consultation document | Scottish Government press release
Date: 2012-Dec
An audit report said that Scotland's new single police force would inherit many positive features: but it could learn lessons from the existing system, particularly in relation to improving the scrutiny of police services.
Source: Best Value in Police Authorities and Police Forces in Scotland, Audit Scotland
Links: Report | Audit Scotland press release
Date: 2012-Nov
An audit report in Scotland said that major changes were needed in order to tackle reoffending in Scotland. There was a mismatch between what was delivered and what was known to work.
Source: Reducing Reoffending in Scotland, Audit Scotland
Links: Report | Audit Scotland press release | BBC report | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Nov
Researchers examined the scale and nature of child sexual exploitation in Scotland, including a review of United Kingdom literature.
Source: Isabelle Brodie and Jenny Pearce, Exploring the Scale and Nature of Child Sexual Exploitation in Scotland, Scottish Government
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Oct
The Scottish Government published a strategy for justice – defined broadly to encompass criminal, civil, and administrative justice as well as community safety. It said that its outcomes-focused and evidence-based approach had succeeded in delivering significant progress to date, but that there was much work still to be done.
Source: The Strategy for Justice in Scotland, Scottish Government
Date: 2012-Sep
The Scottish Government began consultation on proposals to overhaul Scotland's system for investigating and prosecuting crime, including the removal of the requirement for corroboration and reform of arrest and detention.
Source: Reforming Scots Criminal Law and Practice: The Carloway Report, Scottish Government
Links: Consultation document | Scottish Government press release
Date: 2012-Jul
A literature review examined evidence on what public attitudes to the justice system were, what drove these attitudes, what effect these attitudes had on behaviour, and what worked to improve such attitudes. The most important drivers of people's attitudes to the justice system were personal experiences.
Source: Carole Wilson, The Public and the Justice System: Attitudes, drivers and behaviour – A literature review, Scottish Government
Date: 2012-Jun
The Scottish Government said that it had accepted 33 of the 37 recommendations made by an independent commission on women offenders. The remaining four recommendations would be examined in more detail, in consultation with the sector.
Source: The Scottish Government Response to the Commission on Women Offenders, Scottish Government
Links: Response | Scottish Government press release | Sacro press release
Notes: Commission report (April 2012)
Date: 2012-Jun
The Scottish Government began consultation on proposals for a Bill designed to improve the experience of victims and witnesses within the criminal justice system.
Source: Making Justice Work for Victims and Witnesses: Victims and Witnesses Bill – A Consultation Paper, Scottish Government
Links: Consultation document | Scottish Government press release | SNP press release | BBC report | Scotsman report
Date: 2012-May
The final report of an independent commission examined how female offenders were dealt with by the criminal justice system in Scotland, and set out a series of measures to help reverse the continued rise in the female prison population (which had doubled in the previous decade).
Source: Commission on Women Offenders, Scottish Government
Links: Report | Scottish Government press release | Sacro press release
Date: 2012-Apr
A report by a committee of MSPs said that it welcomed a recent reduction in reoffending rates: but it was 'not convinced' that services for offenders were being effectively targeted, given that a national picture of services provided by the Scottish Prison Service or by community justice authorities had only recently been undertaken.
Source: An Overview of Scotland's Criminal Justice System, 1st Report 2012, SP Paper 70, Scottish Parliament Public Audit Committee
Links: Report | Scottish Parliament press release
Date: 2012-Feb
An article examined the reasons for the sharp rise in prison recall rates in Scotland. Although there were sound reasons for a policy of 'early release' (incentivizing good behaviour and enabling the resettlement of prisoners), in practice early release had increasingly been used as a tool to try to limit the growth in the custodial population.
Source: Beth Weaver, Cyrus Tat, Mary Munro, and Monica Barry, 'The failure of recall to prison: early release, front-door and back-door sentencing and the revolving prison door in Scotland', European Journal of Probation, Volume 4 Number 1
Date: 2012-Jan
