Parole (Hansard, 25 July 1990)

§ Mr. Rifkind

When the Kincraig report (Cm598) was published in March 1989, I invited comments on the review committee's recommendations from all concerned. I am grateful for the very positive response which this elicited.

The Government's conclusions and proposals are published today in a paper entitled "Parole and Related Issues in Scotland—The Government's Response to the Report of the Review Committee", copies of which have been placed in the Library.

Our proposals are based very substantially on the review committee's recommendations and reflect full acceptance of the underlying principles which they identified. Accordingly, our main proposals are that

—all prisoners should serve at least half their sentences in custody;
—release before the end of sentence should always be conditional, thus restoring meaning to the full sentence passed by the court;
—parole should be available to prisoners serving sentences of four years or more, who would be eligible for parole from the half-way point in their sentences, and should be considered in the light of statutory criteria of which the most important should be whether the prisoner can safely be released without risk to the public;
—there should be compulsory post-release supervision for all longer term prisoners, and, at the discretion of the courts, for prisoners sentenced to between one year and under four years.

The aim of these proposals is that reformed arrangements for early release should be fairer than the existing arrangements, under which prisoners convicted of more serious offences may serve a smaller proportion of their sentence in custody than shorter-term prisoners, and that there should be a greater emphasis on the behaviour of offenders after their release from custody.

I shall seek a suitable opportunity to bring before Parliament the legislative changes which will be required to implement these proposals.