Hansard

I join others in congratulating the minister and the committee on the way in which they have tackled the issues in the bill.

The Justice 2 Committee's scrutiny of the new order for lifelong restriction and of the risk management agency has been particularly valuable. Those issues are hugely difficult and, as the MacLean committee showed, they are being grappled with by many countries. I believe that the innovative approach that Scotland is adopting today will have a substantial effect not only on the most serious and violent offenders, to whom the order for lifelong restriction will apply, but on sexual offenders at all levels.

I cannot stress too strongly the risk that is posed by current and potential sexual offenders. The recent internet case has shown all too clearly that probably tens of thousands of people are offending at the level of child pornography. The 1,800 people who are currently on the register are likely to grow in number to 10,000 before the numbers stabilise. Alongside the stabilisation of the valuable work at Peterhead prison, the bill makes an important contribution to the treatment of those who have been sentenced to four years or more.

However, we will have to do much more. The next priority must be to integrate the assessment and management of the 600 offenders who receive shorter or even non-custodial sentences and who are not eligible to go to Peterhead prison. The police, prisons, criminal justice, social work and housing functions must be integrated even more closely if we are to be effective in protecting our children and our vulnerable citizens.

We must also tackle adolescents who demonstrate inappropriate sexual behaviour. We must also seek to prevent offending behaviour from moving through the cycle from deviant thinking to fantasy to internet pornography to reality to repeat offending with self-justification. In the near future, we need to introduce the "Stop it Now!" programme, which is promoted in America for those who are in the pre-offending category.

There are many excellent measures in the bill, but time is too short to praise them all. I welcome the modest advance in protecting children from being hit, but I regret the failure to ban the hitting of babies and toddlers under the age of two, which is a measure that had the support of the majority of parents. Too many parents still believe that it is all right to smack babies of under one year.

At least those in the front line who support children day in, day out will be able to give three clear messages to parents: that it is illegal to hit a child on the head; that it is illegal to hit a child with an implement; and that it is illegal to shake a child. That is a substantial advance.

However, Scotland's failure to join the growing number of European countries that have banned the hitting of children altogether is indeed a failure. Too many young men still grow up believing that physical violence is the most appropriate way to deal with disputes. It is wholly unacceptable that 17 per cent of young men continue to believe that hitting women is appropriate. A ban on the hitting of children would begin to eliminate the use of violence as a mechanism in our society. We have much more to do, but the bill is an excellent start and I welcome it.