HC Deb 12 March 1985 vol 75 cc100-1W
Mr. O'Neill

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) of all prisoners sentenced to the short sharp shock treatment, how many have subsequently been given other custodial sentences and how many have not;

(2) how many prisoners have undergone sentences involving the short sharp shock treatment by institution, year and length of sentence since its inception;

(3) how many prisoners sentenced to the short sharp shock treatment have previously been detained in other institutions by year and type of institution;

(4) how many prisoners have been sentenced to the short sharp shock treatment on more than one occasior by year and institution.

Mr. Ancram

The "short sharp shock treatment" is the colloquial phrase for the sentence of young offenders to detention in a detention centre, which was introduced by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1949. The numbers of receptions to detention centres in Scotland since the first one opened in 1960 are as follows:

Year Receptions
1960 175
1961 311
1962 317
1963 477
1964 613
1965 575
1966 723
1967 735
1968 825
1969 1,103
1970 1,132
1971 1,171
1972 1,083
1973 975
1974 963
1975 1,043
1976 837
1977 879
1978 919
1979 591
1980 834
1981 729
1982 862
1983 889
*1984 1,070
* January to August.

Under the terms of the 1949 Act, the term of detention during the years 1960–63 could not exceed three months. A breakdown of receptions by sentence length is available in the Scottish Home and Health Department's annual reports "Prisons in Scotland" published by HMSO for these years. Under the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1963—implemented on 1 November 1963—the sentence became a fixed term of three months. Since section 45 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 was implemented on 15 November 1963 sentences may vary, generally between 28 days and four months. For the period January to August 1984 the breakdown was as follows:

Length Number
Under 28 days *8
28 days 15
30 days 103
1 month 13
30–60 days 15
60 days 188
2 months 36
60–90 days 3
90 days 23
3 months 549
90–120 days 2
120 days 5
4 months 108
Over 4 months †2
* These would be additional warrants served on an inmate already subject to a detention centre sentence.
† This is possible under the terms of section 207(7) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975.

Information on the previous custodial sentences served by inmates received at detention centres is available in "Prisons in Scotland" until 1982. This information has not been published since 1982 as it is based on the recollection of inmates on admission. The relevant figures since 1982 are as follows:

Previous sentence(s) in
Year DC receptions DC Borstal YOI
1983 889 62 45 117
1984* 1,070 286 177 290
DC—Detention Centre.
YOI—Young Offenders Institution.
* January to August.

Breakdowns of this and the other information by institution are not available except at disproportionate cost. There are no official figures available on how many inmates released from detention centres have subsequently been given other custodial sentences.