Current concerns

The Howard League for Penal Reform in Scotland

Activities and Current Concerns

The League maintains an interest in reform not only in the penal system itself but in the wider criminal justice system in Scotland. It is particularly interested in:-

rehabilitation of offenders and the effectiveness of interventions,
improving prison regimes
relationships between drug and alcohol abuse and crime
treatment of young people in the criminal justice system
early intervention and prevention
reducing the unnecessary use of imprisonment
links between poverty and crime,

Following the May elections to the Scottish Parliament the Labour Party in Scotland and the Lib Dems produced a partnership agreement as the programme for the Scottish Executive in its second parliamentary term. The full text of the partnership agreement can be found at A Partnership for a Better Scotland- Partnership Agreement.

This programme includes a number of matters of interest to the League and its members, notably the proposed review of the Children's Hearing System (see the NCH website for a short report on their 'Kilbrandon Now inquiry and a transcript of evidence)' and the introduction of youth courts, the review of sentencing by a judicially led sentencing commission and proposals for a single agency covering custodial and non custodial sentences. The single agency was the focus of our Autumn lecture series and you will find copies of the lectures that were given on the Autumn lectures page.

For 2004 the Spring lectures will have an International perspective. In the first lecture Vivien Stern will be looking at developments in other jurisdictions and considering what we can learn from them.

If you want to keep abreast of news on Criminal Justice issues in Scotland see the excellent site at :

http://www.cjscotland.org.uk/

"The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,

And wretches hang that jury-men may dine."

Alexander Pope