Justice Committee

Holyrood's Justice Committee has announced its timetable for parliamentary scrutiny of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill. The committee intends to start hearing oral evidence from witnesses in late October, with a view to completing its stage 1 report by 18 December 2020.

The Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee has backed the general principles of a bill which will create a Scottish biometrics commissioner, and establish a code of practice for the use of biometrics by the police. However, it is calling for the postholder to be given further powers to keep p

The Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee has concluded that real-terms increases in the revenue and capital budgets for the Scottish Prison Service are needed for 2020/21. The committee is also calling for changes to the post-conviction landscape in Scotland.

MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee are calling for better mental health support for young people ordered into either secure care or a young offenders’ institution (YOI). The committee is calling for assessments of a young person’s needs to be made within the first

MSPs have said they are yet to hear a convincing case against members of the judiciary disclosing their pecuniary interests and society connections, The Times reports. Judges in all UK jurisdictions are required to declare relevant interests in cases before them but are not required to disclose them

Ahead of the new parliamentary year, MSPs from the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee are spending a day with police officers, legal professionals and others working in the wider justice system in the Scottish Borders. The committee's role is to consider, scrutinise and investigate justice and

Holyrood’s Justice Committee is to hold its first evidence session on a Scottish government proposal to extend the presumption against short sentences from three months or less to twelve months or less. Although courts would retain the power to sentence as they see fit, the legislation would m

Scottish Greens justice spokesperson John Finnie MSP will today propose an amendment to the Management of Offenders Bill to remove any role for the private sector in the existing or proposed expanded monitoring regime. The Justice Committee will begin its stage 2 consideration of the bill, which &ld

Poor financial management, unclear lines of responsibility and a failure to focus on the views of officers and staff in the early stages of reform lie at the root of many of the problems faced by Police Scotland, according to Holyrood's Justice Committee. A review into the 2012 Police and Fire

In the second episode of Morton Fraser's podcast series, Stuck in the Middle, David Hossack a partner and accredited mediator chats with Graham Boyack, director of Scottish Mediation about the Justice Committee's report "I won't see you in court".

Proposals to increase the use of electronic tags and reduce the period for which people with prior convictions must disclose them have received the backing of MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee. The measures form part of a wider Management of Offenders Bill, that would allow t