Labour and Tories burying their heads in the sand on sentence reform

4.27.32pm GMT Thu 26th Nov 2009

Commenting after speaking during the debate in the Scottish Parliament on Criminal Justice and Licensing, Liberal Democrat Justice spokesperson Robert Brown MSP said:

“Labour and the Tories are simply burying their head in the sand on sentence reform. They still do not recognise the total failure of short term prison sentences in helping to reduce crime in Scotland.

“'Lock everyone up' is a soundbite designed only to grab a quick headline and has been proven time and time again not to work. 91% of the men at Polmont Young Offenders Institute have been there before.

“Scotland’s prisons are at bursting point and as a result many prisoners leave, after serving short sentences, more of a danger to society than when they came in.

“The sensationalist position of Labour on the Tories will do absolutely nothing to tackle this problem. They have generations of abysmal failure on crime to explain away.

“Liberal Democrats want to see short prison sentences of three months or less replaced with tough community sentences.

"These would make offenders work to repay their communities and help tackle the root causes of criminal behaviour.

"It is vital that SNP Ministers make sure community sentences are properly resourced to be available as an immediate option to judges."