Liberal Democrat Justice spokesperson Robert Brown believes the Tories are “living in cloud cuckoo land” by proposing to jail minor criminal offenders.
Commenting on the Conservative campaign Mr Brown believes the Tories will not be able to fix Scotland’s criminal justice issues. “The Tories are living in cloud cuckoo land if they think they will solve Scotland’s criminal justice problems by locking up more and more minor offenders. Scotland already has one of the highest rates of imprisonment in Europe”.
He went on to say “Serious criminals need to be in jail for the protection of the public but in many cases for minor offenders, short jail terms don’t work … they are expensive, can end up making bad people worse and do nothing to repay society.”
The Lib Dems aim to move offenders away from a life of crime through tough punishment which pays back the community where the harm took place, coupled with tackling the cause of the offending behaviour.