prisoners
Report that describes children and young people’s own perception of imprisonment. The seventh report to be published, it outlines the responses from surveys carried out annually in all young offender institutions holding children and young people aged 15 to 18 years old.
Findings are summarised from 1,052 young men from all nine male establishments and 40 young women from four female establishments.
The increase in the female prison population between 1997 and 2000 caused such concern that it triggered a review of the existing initiatives for working with women. The subsequent report signalled the introduction of the Women’s Offending Reduction Programme which aimed to link strategic initiatives across government departments to address women’s offending and pursue alternatives to custody. This thematic inspection report was conducted by HMI Probation, HMCPSI and HMI Prisons.
Statistical bulletin that forms part of a series on the criminal justice system, and shows data up to 2010-11 on Scottish prison population level and characteristics, receptions to/liberations from Scottish prisons, and international comparisons.
One of six briefing papers covering various aspects of the Scottish criminal justice system. It provides a brief description of the operation of the prison service in Scotland, including information on the system of early release for prisoners.
Report that presents analysis and evaluation of some of the factors that have led to the fall in the number of children under the age of 18 who are imprisoned in England and Wales. The figure has dropped from around 3,000 in the first half of 2008 to around 2,000 in the first four months of 2011.
A report for South West Scotland Community Justice Authority. It documents the evaluation of the Women in Focus service, which resulted from the concerns that many practitioners, policy-makers and others expressed in relation to the increasing imprisonment of women in Scotland (and internationally).
Gill McIvor, Professor of Criminology, SCCJR; Mary Belgan, Service Manager, 218 Centre; Nancy Loucks, Chief Executive, Families Outside; and Margaret Malloch, Research Fellow, SCCJR, discuss whether women's imprisonment is the best way to deal with female offenders and the possible alternatives.
A functioning correctional system depends on the orderly reproduction of a stable and acceptable prison environment. The argument in this paper has two parts: first, a key factor in the social order of a prison is the legitimacy of the prison regime in the eyes of inmates; and second, the legitimacy of authorities depends in large part upon the procedural fairness with which officers treat prisoners.
This article reviews the evidence regarding young women’s involvement in violent crime and, drawing on recent research carried out in HMPYOI Cornton Vale in Scotland, provides an overview of the characteristics, needs and deeds of young women sentenced to imprisonment for violent offending. Through the use of direct quotations, the article suggests that young women’s anger and aggression is often related to their experiences of family violence and abuse, and the acquisition of a negative worldview in which other people are considered as being ‘out to get you’ or ‘put one over on you’.
Scotland is currently engaged in one of the biggest penal reform projects in a generation, seeking to fundamentally change its approach to punishment, which is characterised by high use of imprisonment compared to other parts of Europe, and the use of very short prison sentences. In Scotland around three quarters of prison sentences handed down by the courts are for six months or less. But because short sentences are seen as minimally intrusive compared to long-term or life sentences, there has been, until now, little research on their effects.

