PLANS to end the automatic early release of dangerous criminals could be extended despite experts warning that current proposals are likely to increase danger to the public.
The Scottish Government wants to overhaul legislation to ensure sex offenders sentenced to four years or more and others sentenced to at least 10 years would no longer automatically be freed two-thirds of the way into their sentence.
A series of experts have called for the proposed law change to be scrapped, saying it would lead to a situation in which the most dangerous criminals - who had not made efforts to rehabilitate while in jail - would be released "cold" into the community with no supervision or support after serving the entirety of long sentences, increasing their risk of reoffending. The position has been backed by Holyrood researchers, who said: "the period of supervision in the community under licence conditions could be reduced potentially to zero".
Fergus McNeill, professor of criminology and social work at Glasgow University, also claimed that prisoners across Europe were choosing "max out" their sentences to disqualify themselves from strict conditions upon release, and was concerned that a similar situation could arise in Scotland.
However, Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said that while he was open to improving the Bill in an attempt to address the concerns, he was "also committed to ending automatic early release".
He went further by hinting that he was willing to increase the number of prisoners who the new law would apply to, by lowering the sentencing thresholds at which the measures would kick in. The current proposals would affect only around one per cent of the prison population.
Mr Matheson, giving evidence to members of Holyrood's Justice Committee, said: "It's one per cent of the population based on the timescales we've set within the Bill itself. So 10 years for non-sexual crimes and four years for sexual offences. If the Committee have a view as to whether that threshold should be lower, then I'm prepared to consider that.
"There are some stakeholders who would say they believe that the thresholds should be lower for both categories. The four and 10 year thresholds is a position we have started at as a Government and I'm prepared to look at extending that further."
However, committee convenor Christine Grahame raised doubts over whether the extending the scope of the new law would be possible.
"I'm looking at the purpose of the Bill... it says 'certain long term prisoners' so it has to be, as I understand it, four years and over whatever happens," she said. "I don't know if this could be amended even if one set one's path in that direction."
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