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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
This week in Parliament, the Justice Secretary made a statement about community courts to the Chamber following on from last week’s debate on the issue in which the Government were defeated. There were also several question to the First Minister about mandatory sentences for possession of knives. The Justice Committee began its Stage 1 consideration of the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill by taking evidence from the members of the judiciary.
The Justice Committee
Stage 1 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill: evidence from the Judiciary
The Committee began its Stage 1 scrutiny of this important piece of legislation by questioning members of the judiciary about the proposals in the Bill relating to sentencing, including the creation of a Scottish Sentencing Council. The Council will consist of a combination of judicial and non–judicial members and will be chaired by the Lord Justice Clerk, one of the most senior judges in the High Court. One of the main functions of the Council will be to prepare and publish sentencing guidelines for the courts on the sentencing of offenders, but it will also be required to promote consistency in sentencing practice, assist the development of policy in relation to sentencing, and to promote greater awareness and understanding of sentencing policy and practice.
The first panel of witnesses was comprised of the two most senior judges in Scotland, the Lord President, Lord Hamilton, and the Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Gill. In their evidence, they were critical of the plans for the sentencing council, saying there is no empirical evidence to support the view that there is inconsistency in sentencing, and Lord Hamilton said that he was happy for court records to be made available for this possibility to be examined. He also said that the Bill’s proposals would impinge on the independence of the judiciary, given that the Sentencing Council was comprised of a majority of non–judicial office holders and would be able to lay down guidelines. They also commented that even though the wording of the Bill states that courts should ‘have regard to’ sentencing guidelines, in reality it was likely that they would be prescriptive.
The next panel of witnesses was comprised of members of the Sheriffs Association and the Scottish Justices Association, who spoke on behalf of members of the Sheriff Courts and the Justice of the Peace Courts in Scotland. They spoke about the possibility of having the principles of sentencing outlined in the Bill, and they said that it was unlikely that members of the public would refer to the legislation to find out what the principles are, and that sentencers are aware of them anyway, but one of the witnesses said there may be no harm in including them in the legislation. They also spoke about the Scottish Sentencing Council, and they said that their main concern with this body, was that it would not have a judicial majority, and they also thought that that the phrase ‘have regard to’ would be too binding and would therefore be inappropriate, perhaps even contravening European law.
The final panel comprised of two members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which is self defined itself as ‘Scotland’s academy of science and letters’. Amongst other matters they also respond to Government consultations, and the Royal Society’s response to this Bill was chaired by Lord Cullen, a former Lord President. They reiterated many of the points that had been made by earlier witnesses, specifically comments made about consistency in sentencing, and whether that is something that ought to be striven for given that every case is unique. Lord Cullen was also supportive of the idea of giving the public more information about the sentencing of offenders, saying this might address some of the concerns laid out in the consultation paper and which could even be provided in public information leaflets.
For a fuller reading of the evidence given, you can read the transcripts of the meeting in the Official Report, and you can also read the witnesses written submissions in pages 4 – 69 of the Committee papers. You can also watch the meeting on Holyrood.TV, and read the press coverage of the judicial responses to the Bill in the CJScotland Newsblog. For more information about the Bill, you can find all the relevant documents on the Bill’s Homepage
If that is not enough, you can also watch an interview with the Convenor of the Committee, Bill Aitken, in which he gives his opinions on the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill, on Holyrood Highlights Weekly
The Chamber
Statement on Community Courts
On Thursday, Kenny MacAskill made a statement to the Chamber about community courts. This follows on from the Conservative led debate the previous week which condemned the Government’s decision to not proceed with the pilot community court in Glasgow (see last week’s Parliament Report for more information). The Opposition have rallied together in their criticism of this decision, all voting against the Government in last weeks debate. This has lead to criticism of the Justice Secretary personally, and criticisms of the SNP’s justice policies in the round. In response, the Justice Secretary clearly felt he had no choice but to make a statement and to answer questions in the Chamber, not least because of the need for political support as the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill begins its Stage 1 scrutiny in Parliament.
His statement on community courts outlined the position of the Government, saying that the decision had been taken by the community court project board, and subsequently supported by the Government, because of financial reasons alone; the projected costs would be considerably higher than anticipated which could not be justified in ‘the current financial climate’, not least because the court would only be dealing with around 2000 people each year. He said that there were plans to incorporate the principles of the court into mainstream services in Glasgow, and that the Government had not abandoned their commitment to better justice system delivery. He emphasised that he too believed in the model of the community court in New York, which the members spoke of last week, and he hinted that in better economic times, the issues could be reviewed once again.He also defend the provisions in the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill relating to tougher and more flexible community sentences, and outlined the additional money the Government is spending on front–line services at the current time
In questions that followed, the Opposition were unanimous in their criticism of the Government’s position. Richard Baker (Lab) said his statement was “an insult to Parliament”, Bill Aitken said that the Conservatives have lost faith with the Cabinet Secretary on a number of issues and argued that this statement raised “real doubts over his ability to satisfy the Parliament as to his competence and suitability for office”; and Robert Brown (LD) said Mr MacAskill was coming before the Chamber with “weasel words.” During the open questions that followed, Opposition Members followed in the same vein as the leaders of the Opposition, and they were interspersed by questions from SNP Members which allowed him to talk about the Government’s justice strategy and reiterate the points already made in support of their decision about the community courts.
This was not one of the prettiest debates in the Parliament, with bad tempered exchanges and interruptions throughout. This marks the beginning of a difficult time for the Justice Secretary who must gain the support of at least some of the opposition if the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill is to succeed in its passage through Parliament.
You can read the transcripts of the debate in the Official Report, or watch it on Holyrood.TV. You can also read the press in the CJScotland Newsblog.
First Minister’s Questions
Justice Secretary’s trip to Canada and Mandatory Sentences for Knife possession
Labour continued with its strategy of attack on the Justice Secretary with Iain Gray’s question to the First Minister in FMQs. Under a freedom of information request, Labout had uncovered an email from a civil servant involved with the Cabinet Secretary’s trip to Canada in January to promote Scotland’s Homecoming. This trip coincided with a ‘summit on knife crime’ which was attended by the Minister for Community Safety instead. Mr Gray argued that this said the fact that the Cabinet Secretary did not attend the summit and sent his deputy instead, showed that they did not care about knife crime, and he promoted his party’s proposals for a mandatory sentence for those caught carrying a blade.
The First Minister emphasised that the Minister for Community Safety is the Minister who was responsible for this policy area, and that this Government do take this issue seriously, which is why they held the summit which was a great success. He also pointed out that Labour support a mandatory sentence for carrying a knife in Scotland where they are in Opposition, but they do not implement this policy where they are in Government in Westminster. He also quoted from the head of the violence reduction unit, who said that mandatory sentences would not help tackle knife crime.
This theme continued with a question from Annabel Goldie, for the Conservatives, who firstly attacked Labour’s sudden adoption of support for mandatory sentences for knife carrying, accusing them of jumping on the Conservative bandwagon. She said that the Government should send out a clear message to “bullies and hooligans”, to “take the blade outside and you will be going inside.” The First Minister mocked this sound bite and pointed to the record high numbers of people in prison and the record low levels of recorded crime, arguing that we do not need more people in custody at this point in time.
You can read these questions in the Official Report, and also read the press in the CJScotland Newsblog
Rehabilitation and retraining of prisoners
Richard Baker continued the assault on the Justice Secretary by quoting an interview he had given to a newspaper in which he called prison “a skoosh”. The First Minister replied that a short custodial sentence was a skoosh in comparison with tough community sentences, and he also indicated that Cathy Jamieson took the same view when she was the Justice Minister. He also quoted from an article in the press in which an anonymous Labour MSP was quoted as saying the Party’s approach to criminal justice policies was ‘depressing‘. You can read this question in the Official Report, and read the story to which Richard Baker was referring in the CJScotland Newsblog. You can also watch all of FMQs on Holyrood.TV.
Written Questions
There was a question about the effect of Glasgow community service worker’s strike on the backlog of community service orders, and about the figures for crimes of violence and indecency in the Edinburgh and Lothians region. There was a question about male victims of domestic abuse, and about the gender breakdown of victims and offenders in reported cases of domestic abuse. There were a number of questions about deaths related to drug abuse , about the recent mandatory drug testing of arestees pilot, and about the current drugs evidence review the Government is carrying out. There were a number of questions about prosecutions for human trafficking, and a number of justice questions, including the numbers of people on bail who have broken their conditions, and the number of firearm offences in the Edinburgh and Lothians region. There was a question about how many alleged offenders have entered the system for the first time over the past ten years, and a question about the report into the abuse at the Karelaw Residential School. There was a question about test purchasing and for various offences relating to the illegal selling or buying of alcohol. There was a question about how many absconded prisoners there have been in the past two years, and the number of prisoners with mental health problems in custody.
Posted by KM
on Wed 20th May 2009
at 8:08 am
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