Skip to content
Law Society of Scotland
Search
Find a Solicitor
Contact us
About us
Sign in
Search
Find a Solicitor
Contact us
About us
Sign in
  • For members

    • For members

    • CPD & Training

    • Membership and fees

    • Rules and guidance

    • Regulation and compliance

    • Journal

    • Business support

    • Career growth

    • Member benefits

    • Professional support

    • Lawscot Wellbeing

    • Lawscot Sustainability

  • News and events

    • News and events

    • Law Society news

    • Blogs & opinions

    • CPD & Training

    • Events

  • Qualifying and education

    • Qualifying and education

    • Qualifying as a Scottish solicitor

    • Career support and advice

    • Our work with schools

    • Lawscot Foundation

    • Funding your education

    • Social mobility

  • Research and policy

    • Research and policy

    • Research

    • Influencing the law and policy

    • Equality and diversity

    • Our international work

    • Legal Services Review

    • Meet the Policy team

  • For the public

    • For the public

    • What solicitors can do for you

    • Making a complaint

    • Client protection

    • Find a Solicitor

    • Frequently asked questions

    • Your Scottish solicitor

  • About us

    • About us

    • Contact us

    • Who we are

    • Our strategy, reports and plans

    • Help and advice

    • Our standards

    • Work with us

    • Our logo and branding

    • Equality and diversity

  1. Home
  2. News and events
  3. Legal news
  4. Report highlights community sentencing resource needs

Report highlights community sentencing resource needs

9th June 2023 | criminal law | Criminal legal aid

Public and judicial confidence in community sentencing goes hand in hand with adequate resourcing to manage and support offenders, according to a new report by the Scottish Sentencing Council.

It highlights the views of stakeholders who attended a discussion event in March last year, including members of the judiciary, lawyers, social workers, victim groups, police and third sector staff.

Participants were clear that a robust system of alternatives to custody is key to achieving the Scottish Government’s aim of only using prison when there is no other option.

Chaired by Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk and chair of the Council, the event explored four main themes on community sentencing, including gaps in provision, monitoring and management, promoting awareness and understanding, and future developments.

As well as highlighting the need for adequate resourcing, participants were also of the view that confidence in community sentencing could be improved by robust monitoring of the completion of community payback orders – including increased support for offenders and the effective handling of any breaches.

The report also lists a number of barriers to greater use of community disposals, such as gaps in services for certain types of offenders and in different geographical areas, and judicial awareness of the different programmes available to offenders.

Stakeholders rejected the view of community sentencing being a "soft-touch" option; however, it was agreed that there was room to consider making more sentencing options available, including an increase to the maximum number of hours of unpaid work under a CPO beyond the present 300, or allowing restriction of liberty orders to run beyond the present limit of one year.

There was also some support for the exploration of suspended sentences, not at present available in Scotland, or so-called hybrid sentences involving prison and a subsequent community sentence on release.

Lady Dorrian commented: “I am grateful to everyone who took part in the discussion, offering their wideranging views.

“The Council has a statutory duty to assist the development of policy in relation to sentencing, and to promote greater awareness and understanding of sentencing policy and practice.

“This event offered participants from across the criminal justice system the chance to discuss their experiences of, and views on, community sentencing, highlighting gaps or barriers to provision and the measures that might improve judicial and public confidence in community-based interventions.

“It is the Council’s hope that this report will help to stimulate further discussion about community-based sentencing, and will play its part in informing policy development in this important area.”

The Council is currently planning activity specifically designed to improve awareness of community-based sentencing options.

Read the report here.

Add To Favorites

Additional

  • News and events

In this section

  • Law Society news
  • CPD & Training
  • Blogs & opinions
  • Events
  • 75th Anniversary

Categories

  • civil litigation
  • criminal law
  • employment
  • obituary
  • careers
  • practice management
  • law society of scotland
  • government-administration
  • welfare/benefits
  • family-child law
  • reparation
  • professional regulation
  • property (non-commercial)
  • insolvency
  • consumer
  • human rights
  • mental health-adult incapacity
  • planning/environment
  • europe
  • information technology
  • immigration
  • education-training
  • executries
  • corporate
  • commercial property
  • agriculture-crofting
  • dispute resolution
  • risk management
  • intellectual property
  • client relations
  • tax
  • licensing
  • banking-financial services
  • trusts-asset management
  • reviews
  • opinion
  • For the public
  • Research and policy
  • Regulation
  • Journal online news
  • interview

News Archive

  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • 2013

Related articles

  • Jury trials to return to the islands in spring
  • SCTS revises criminal case backlog predictions
  • Current justice funding model unsustainable: MSP report
  • Crime figures up 3% in first full post-Covid year
Law Society of Scotland
Atria One, 144 Morrison Street
Edinburgh
EH3 8EX
If you’re looking for a solicitor, visit FindaSolicitor.scot
T: +44(0) 131 226 7411
E: lawscot@lawscot.org.uk
About us
  • Contact us
  • Who we are
  • Strategy reports plans
  • Help and advice
  • Our standards
  • Work with us
Useful links
  • Find a Solicitor
  • Sign in
  • CPD & Training
  • Rules and guidance
  • Website terms and conditions
Law Society of Scotland | © 2025
Made by Gecko Agency Limited