The Justice Secretary has said he will "keep an open mind" on proposals to reform the parole system.
Humza Yousaf made the comments in a letter to the Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr, which outlined proposals for Parole Board reform.
These include enabling victims to attend board hearings, telling victims the reason behind decisions of the board and giving them a stronger right of appeal.
Mr Yousaf highlighted that victims can currently choose to be informed of the outcome of parole hearings.
They can also can make representations to the Parole Board which it considers as part of making decisions regarding granting parole and can influence the conditions of any release on licence.
Victims of prisoners given a life sentence can meet a board member before the case is considered.
He said: "The Scottish Government is fully committed to making sure that the parole process in Scotland is as open and transparent as possible and that everything that can be done to help and support victims through that process is considered."
He said proposals to achieve this are being progressed through the Management of Offenders Bill which will enable minister to draft regulations in consultation regarding the Parole Board.
Mr Yousaf, who succeeded Michael Matheson to the justice brief in last month's government reshuffle, added: "Given my new role I would welcome further discussions on the issues raised.
"I will keep an open mind on the proposals."
Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr said: "Victims will be relieved that finally, after all these years, there's some indication that the SNP government is willing to take this seriously.
"The Scottish Conservatives have been pressing ministers to get tough on dangerous criminals, and support victims in the process, for some time.
"We believe there is a need for greater transparency and accountability in the way the Parole Board reaches decisions."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel