Meeting of the Parliament 11 February 2016
I oppose amendment 3. In the Scottish Government’s 2014 consultation, “Future Model for Community Justice in Scotland”, the definition of “community justice” was given as:
“The collection of agencies and services in Scotland that individually and in partnership work to manage offenders, prevent offending and reduce reoffending and the harm that it causes, to promote social inclusion, citizenship and desistance.”
However, in the bill as introduced the definition of community justice in section 1 no longer referred to the prevention of offending, which represented a major change. That was amended at stage 2 in response to widespread criticism of the omission from a number of organisations.
Police Scotland said:
“to be successful it is necessary to take a whole-system approach; it needs to be right from start to finish. That leads to the emphasis on prevention and early intervention.”—[Official Report, Justice Committee, 15 September 2015; c 44.]
Sacro said:
“there is no statement regarding prevention, public safety or community safety.”
Turning Point Scotland said:
“It is ... disappointing that the bill does not explicitly direct planning at both national and local levels to consider prevention especially within the wider context of the community planning process.”
Barnardo’s said:
“If we are to take a truly preventative approach to community justice, we must start at the beginning and focus on how to keep people out of the justice system and within their communities.”
Victim Support Scotland said:
“the definition does not allow for a greater focus on prevention and early intervention in line with the recommendations of the Christie Commission.”
I consider it a retrograde step and an opportunity lost that today the minister is seeking again to remove prevention and early intervention from the bill’s provisions. It is for that reason that the Scottish Conservatives oppose amendment 3.