Meeting of the Parliament 04 June 2019
I will deal with the member’s point when I outline what I think would be the right way forward for guidelines and sentencing.
The proposed bill also states that, if a trial judge hands down a sentence that is
“deliberately long, with a view to outlasting a criminal’s natural life, that sentence is liable to be overturned”.
A sentence is just as likely to be overturned if we pass this proposal into law. All decisions by judges face being overturned in an appeal court.
With regard to Liam Kerr’s point about the European Court of Human Rights, my understanding is that the European convention on human rights says that we cannot have whole-life sentences—at least, not without a periodic review of prisoners who are in that situation. Who decides what are the most serious murders and sexual offences? Judges decide that every single day of their lives. It is not clear to me, in the proposal, whether further guidelines are going to be given to judges on what would be regarded as such offences. Perhaps that could be clarified. [Interruption.] Liam Kerr says that it would be the murder of police officers, but he needs to make that clear.
The only element of the proposed bill that tempts me to further investigate the need for an improvement to sentencing guidelines for murder is the statistic that, according to the Parole Board for Scotland, 70 per cent of lifers serve a 14-year sentence. I admit that that gives me cause for concern, but it suggests to me that a simple review of the guidelines would be sufficient to rectify any perceived leniency. Sentences are going up, not down, despite a drive for short-term sentencing. Figures that were released today show that the number of serious assaults is coming down but that the length of sentences is going up. However, the proposed bill will raise the public expectation that the wholesale application of whole-life sentences will solve the problem, and I do not believe that it will.
Introducing the concept of whole-life prison sentences would have implications for the management of prisons. I hope that Liam Kerr will attempt to draw out such implications in the consultation period. People who believe in whole-life sentences must believe that there is no possibility for the rehabilitation of prisoners, so consideration must be given to how a prison system would be run if it contained a number of offenders who would never be released from jail. Consideration must be given to safety inside prisons as well as to the safety of the public outside.
Scottish Labour fully understands the need for constant review of the criminal justice system—as we say in our amendment, which was written before we saw the Government’s amendment—including the sentencing powers of the judiciary. The safety of the public is paramount, and the criminal justice system must punish offenders severely—in some cases, a life sentence should, in effect, mean life—but judges already have the option of giving such a sentence. The way forward is to review sentencing guidelines and await the outcome of the Scottish Law Commission’s review of the definition of murder.
I move amendment S5M-17503.1, to leave out from “Scotland’s” to end and insert:
“the sentencing options available to the courts, including in relation to the most serious offenders, should be kept under review, and further believes that any changes to sentencing powers must follow an evidence-led debate about what is in the public interest, and full consultation with all relevant parties, including the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, Scottish Prison Service, Parole Board for Scotland and wider public.”
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.