Some see prison as an easier option than community sentences, but others just need a bit of help
How long after New Year did your resolution disappear? What made you crack? The last unopened box of chocolates staring wistfully at you every time you opened the cupboard door? Your insistence you weren’t waterproof enough to go running on cold January evenings? Lots of great intentions, policies and practices can slip back into old ways and it takes sunlight and commitment to reinvigorate them.
Back in July 2019, the Scottish Government extended the presumption against short sentences to under 12 months. This means a court should not jail someone for a year or less unless it considers no other sentence is appropriate. It’s a laudable and evidence-based move, with an understanding that the revolving door of short sentences provides no time to work with people on their offending. And keeping people in their communities with supervision, unpaid work and access to services is more effective and indeed less costly, physically, mentally and economically.
