Dear All
I have blogged on the issue of mandatory knife crime sentencing before because it is tampering with the principle of an independent judiciary.
The Labour Party publicly are seeking a change in the law so people carrying a knife are put in prison for six months, no matter what the reason.
On the surface the gimmick policy appeals to emotion but like drinking too much seems like great fun at the time, when you wake up, the headaches starts, it is less ‘fun’.
The Labour Party in private they take a different view because even although they fiddle with the wording in the Criminal Justice Bill their position is the status quo remains the same.
It is deceitful politics being played out by a committee of MSPs at Holyrood, so they can show they are ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’.
The Labour amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill was supported by Bill Aitken, a Tory MSP who I think very little of, he is a sheep.
This amendment is likely to be overturned when the Crime bill comes before Holyrood for the final vote because it is bad law and anti human rights.
It is not for government to pass law where a person has to prove they are innocent, it is for the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt they are guilty.
The vote at committee was four-four with Aitken cast his vote as convener, hardly Holyrood’s greatest hour.
There is much division on this issue but anyway you slice it is anti human rights and no flannel can change that.
Lothian and Borders Police chief constable David Strang takes a similar view to me that "discretion" for sentencing people convicted of knife crime should stay with sheriffs.
He isn’t buying into the Labour Party’s nonsense at all.
David Strang is also of the opininon that he doesn’t think a mandatory minimum sentence would be "effective".
He favours community sentences rather than short jail term would help to tackle the causes of crime.
Strang said;
"What we as a country need to do is to not send people to prison unnecessarily”.
It is all about breaking the cycle of crime which the Labour Party won’t address because they have no answers.
Strang added;
"What we as a country need to do is to not send people to prison unnecessarily. It should be an absolute last resort and sentences ought to be aimed at reducing offending in the long-term. So that we are addressing offenders' behaviour and making them repair the damage that they've done in a community”.
It cost £32k a year to keep a person warehoused in prison, locked up they don’t contribute to the community or country, so we get a double dunt loss.
Turning people away from bad lifestyle choices has to be the priority to set these people on a different course.
A Scottish government spokesman said;
"There is no evidence to suggest that mandatory minimum sentences for knife carrying will act as a deterrent. The fact that voting by the justice committee today was tied at four-four and had to rely on a casting vote by the committee convenor demonstrates that there is broad support in parliament for our stance as well."
It is time to be ‘Smart on Crime’ and that is the SNP approach, you would think Tory MSP Bill Aitken would understand at least the economic argument for keeping people out of prison as the English Tories seem to do.
But then maybe he is a member of the ‘nest of vipers’ that Heather MacLeod former PPC for Glasgow South West said haunted the Scottish Tory Party.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
I have blogged on the issue of mandatory knife crime sentencing before because it is tampering with the principle of an independent judiciary.
The Labour Party publicly are seeking a change in the law so people carrying a knife are put in prison for six months, no matter what the reason.
On the surface the gimmick policy appeals to emotion but like drinking too much seems like great fun at the time, when you wake up, the headaches starts, it is less ‘fun’.
The Labour Party in private they take a different view because even although they fiddle with the wording in the Criminal Justice Bill their position is the status quo remains the same.
It is deceitful politics being played out by a committee of MSPs at Holyrood, so they can show they are ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’.
The Labour amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill was supported by Bill Aitken, a Tory MSP who I think very little of, he is a sheep.
This amendment is likely to be overturned when the Crime bill comes before Holyrood for the final vote because it is bad law and anti human rights.
It is not for government to pass law where a person has to prove they are innocent, it is for the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt they are guilty.
The vote at committee was four-four with Aitken cast his vote as convener, hardly Holyrood’s greatest hour.
There is much division on this issue but anyway you slice it is anti human rights and no flannel can change that.
Lothian and Borders Police chief constable David Strang takes a similar view to me that "discretion" for sentencing people convicted of knife crime should stay with sheriffs.
He isn’t buying into the Labour Party’s nonsense at all.
David Strang is also of the opininon that he doesn’t think a mandatory minimum sentence would be "effective".
He favours community sentences rather than short jail term would help to tackle the causes of crime.
Strang said;
"What we as a country need to do is to not send people to prison unnecessarily”.
It is all about breaking the cycle of crime which the Labour Party won’t address because they have no answers.
Strang added;
"What we as a country need to do is to not send people to prison unnecessarily. It should be an absolute last resort and sentences ought to be aimed at reducing offending in the long-term. So that we are addressing offenders' behaviour and making them repair the damage that they've done in a community”.
It cost £32k a year to keep a person warehoused in prison, locked up they don’t contribute to the community or country, so we get a double dunt loss.
Turning people away from bad lifestyle choices has to be the priority to set these people on a different course.
A Scottish government spokesman said;
"There is no evidence to suggest that mandatory minimum sentences for knife carrying will act as a deterrent. The fact that voting by the justice committee today was tied at four-four and had to rely on a casting vote by the committee convenor demonstrates that there is broad support in parliament for our stance as well."
It is time to be ‘Smart on Crime’ and that is the SNP approach, you would think Tory MSP Bill Aitken would understand at least the economic argument for keeping people out of prison as the English Tories seem to do.
But then maybe he is a member of the ‘nest of vipers’ that Heather MacLeod former PPC for Glasgow South West said haunted the Scottish Tory Party.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
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