Mr. Edward Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the average number of years served by persons released from prison after serving life sentences during the period from 1st January 1961 to 31st December 1971.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellThe following table shows the periods served in custody by life sentence prisoners released on licence from Scottish prisons in the period from 1st January 1961 to 31st December 21W 1971. An average figure would not give a clear picture since it would take no account of prisoners still in custody who have already served longer periods than those shown in the table.
Length of time served Year Number released Years Months 1961 … … — — — 1962 … … 1 8 4 1963 … … — — — 1964 … … 2 8 5 — 10 4* 1965 … … — — — 1966 … … 2 7 5 — 9 — 1967 … … — — — 1968 … … 4 9 — — 9 3 — 9 5 — 10 — 1969 … … 3 6 2† — 8 5 — 14 8* 1970 … … 4 9 — — 10 4 — 10 5 — 11 8 1971 … … 3 8 — — 9 1 — 9 9 The figures include persons, under the age of 18 at time of sentence, who were sentenced to be detained during Her Majesty's pleasure.
* First released in 1964, recalled in 1965 on completing a sentence of imprisonment for a further offence involving violence, and again released in 1969, under which year the total period served under the life sentence up to that time is shown. Recalled again in 1972 and still in custody.
† Woman, convicted of culpable homicide.
Mr. Edward Taylorasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the shortest period of years and months served by prisoners released from prison after serving life sentences in each of the past five years for which figures are available, respectively.
§ Mr. Gordon CampbellThe information is as follows:
1968 … … … 9 years 1969 … … … 6 years 2 months* 1970 … … … 9 years 1971 … … … 8 years 1972 … … … 8 years 3 months * A woman, convicted of culpable homicide.