Thousands of offenders still being handed short sentences despite presumption against them

About one third of sentences handed out by courts are for a period of weeks, despite the then justice minister Kenny MacAskill (pictured) saying in 2010 introducing legislation meant to bring an end to the “free bed-and-board culture” with a presumption against brief sentences, which, experts say, actually increase the probability of reoffending.

Short sentences were only to be imposed by sheriffs if there were compelling reasons rebutting the presumption.

A year after the law came into force, 28 per cent of all offenders imprisoned were given sentences of less than three months.

This number then increased in 2012-13, to 29 per cent and remained constant last year.

Before the law came into force, 37 per cent of offenders were sentenced to terms of 12 weeks or less, but this figure had already been in decline year on year – with the trend ending after the law was brought in.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, described short prison terms as a “waste of public money”, adding: “It is good that the Scottish government is determined to reduce crime and prison numbers, now it needs to invest further in effective community sentences that command the confidence of the courts.”

In the period 2013-14, 126 offenders, of a total of 14,101 who were sentenced, were handed sentences for three months or less.

5,332 people were imprisoned for less than 12 weeks in 2010-11, with that number having dropped from 8,825 in 2006-7

A spokeswoman for the Scottish government said judges still had the discretion to issue sentences of three months or less if they thought to do so would be “more effective based on the evidence before them”.

She added: “We know that short sentences don’t work. They do nothing to rehabilitate the offender and all the evidence shows that it just leads to a revolving door to our prisons with individuals going in and out of prison only to reoffend time and time again.

“We believe a more effective approach is replacing these three month sentences with targeted work to address the underlying issues fuelling crime.”