Committee’s Report on the year

Index

The year started with the Drummond Hunter Memorial Lecture by Baroness Vivien Stern in which she provided an international perspective on changes in criminal justice and a warning to Scotland not to go down the road taken by England & Wales. The lecture which was followed by a reception was very well attended with around 100 people gathered in the Playfair Library. As this was the inaugural lecture the Committee also invited members of Drummond Hunter’s family and a small number of guests to a dinner in the Raeburn room following the reception.

On 24th February after the AGM of the League Dr Laura Piacentini of Stirling University provided a fascinating insight into life and attitudes in Russian Prisons in her lecture on human rights as viewed by Russian prison personnel.

When considering the lecture programme for 2004/05 the Committee had decided that the League should make an effort to reach audiences outside the SE of Scotland and so in March organised a lecture in Glasgow. This was given by Professor Jim Murdoch of Glasgow University on human rights and Scottish prisons. The lecture, held in the Royal Faculty of Procurators’ building adjacent to Queen Street station, was very well attended and reinforced the Committee’s views that the experiment of holding lectures outside Edinburgh was worth repeating.

Autumn series 2004

The opening lecture of the Autumn was given by Dr Andrew Fraser, head of health care in Scotland’s prisons who examined various aspects of prisoners’ health and the major challenges which the prison service faced in this area. In November Angela Morgan, Director of Families Outside described in her talk the often neglected difficulties faced by prisoners’ families and the action being taken to assist them. The final lecture of 2004 was given by Dr Richard Holloway who analysed and challenged the rationale of our institutions in seeking to punish those who transgressed the criminal law.

Consultations

In March the Scottish Executive commenced its consultation on reducing reoffending in Scotland. This provoked much interest and some concern among agencies working in the criminal justice field in particular over the proposal to have a single agency responsible for prisons and criminal justice social work. The League’s views, presented as a paper to the Executive in May, stressed the importance of the Executive giving a lead in reducing the use of imprisonment and particularly short terms of imprisonment by the courts. The Executive published its conclusions in December when it revealed that it had moved away from the idea of a single agency in favour of increased inter agency c-operation. It also appeared to recognise the wastefulness of short term sentences though a firmer line on this would have been welcome. The League has also corresponded with the Justice Minister about proposals to remove the automatic release of sex offenders. Cathy Jamieson has agreed with the League that these are matters which should be considered by the Sentencing Commission and has offered to let the League see the Executive’s options paper with a view to providing HLS views to the Commission.

The summer of 2003 saw the creation of the League’s web site with the aim of providing League members and other interested members of the public with continuing up to date information on League and associated events. In its second year the site together with e-mail has become the League’s principal means of disseminating information about its activities allowing both speedy provision of up-to-date news and a reduction in the League’s costs. The Committee has recognised that there are still a few members who do not have direct access to the internet and has continued to provide paper copies of its programme by post. However some services, such as the making of text copies of lectures available, can only realistically be afforded as a web-site facility and it is hoped that using the opportunities that the web provides will increase and broaden interest in the League’s activities.

A visit of members was organised by Robin MacEwen to Hamilton Youth Court to view at first hand the differences from ‘ordinary’ courts to be found in this pilot project. There was a great deal of interest in such a visit and thanks to the generosity of all involved two separate groups were able to visit Hamilton in October and November of 2004 when they saw the court sitting and then talked to representatives of all the agencies including the Sheriffs, Court staff, social work departments, fiscals’ office and the police. Most visitors appeared to have considered the pilot to be extremely promising offering a number of advantages worth pursuing in a wider context.

Committee Changes

Laura Piacentini was co-opted to the Committee in 2003 and Richard Moore joined the Committee as a new member at the 2004 AGM. Richard has taken on responsibility for liaison with the media while Laura has offered assistance with grant applications by the League. Bruce Ritson has indicated that he wishes shortly to stand down from the post of Chairman but will continue serving until his successor is found.

Annual Report for 2003

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Drummond Hunter Memorial Lecture