Parole Board for Scotland
The Parole Board for Scotland is a Public Body with a number of statutory functions to assist with the rehabilitation of offenders. The Parole Board has the role of making risk assessments about prisoners, to decide who may safely be released into the community on parole. Its chairman is John Watt.
Role of the board
The Parole Board is part of the criminal justice system in Scotland. It is a Tribunal Non-Departmental Public Body which has a number of statutory functions but operates independently from the Scottish Government.[1] It is responsible for making important decisions about the release and recall of long term prisoners, and for setting licence conditions for a range of prisoners to help manage their risk in the community on release.[2]
The Parole Board has no statutory powers to consider the case of a prisoner unless the case has been referred to it by Scottish Ministers. For each case it receives a range of information that has been prepared by relevant professionals including: a home background report, a prison social work report, a trial judge report (if available), and where appropriate psychological and/or psychiatric report, sentence management reports and prisoner misconduct reports.[3]
The Parole Board gives consideration to any information that it receives, including written comments that a victim of a crime can supply about the release of the offender (under the Victim Notification Scheme). Decisions made by the Board are intended to focus on the potential risk a prisoner might pose to the community.[4]
In 2011, an Audit Scotland review of Scotland’s criminal justice system noted that the Parole Board is sometimes limited in its ability to grant parole because of the lack of availability of rehabilitation programmes in prison.[5]
Legislation
Procedures around the release of prisoners sentenced on or after 1 October 1993 are detailed in the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993.[6] The legislation covering the parole consideration in relation to these prisoners is set out in the Parole Board Rules (Scotland) 2001.[7]
Appointment to the board are made through the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland. John Watt was appointed as chairman, for a six year period beginning on 1 January 2013.[8]
References
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External links
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