Parole

The first public parole hearing in UK history is set to go ahead today following reforms to increase transparency and improve victims’ experience of the parole system. Convicted murderer Russell Causley, who killed his wife Carole Packman in 1985, will become the first prisoner to have a publi

JUSTICE has published a report on reforming the parole system. The report, which makes 22 recommendations, has been prepared by a working party of experts, chaired by Nicola Padfield QC (Hon), professor of criminal and penal justice at the University of Cambridge. 

Opportunities for making greater use of electronic tagging of prisoners released on parole are to be explored. Work will include consideration of how new GPS monitoring capabilities can be used to ensure compliance with licence conditions, such as exclusion zones for the protection of victims.

The voices of victims and their families should be heard at prisoners’ parole hearings, but only to a limited extent, the Faculty of Advocates has suggested. A “victim personal statement” could be part of a dossier for consideration by the Parole Board for Scotland, although the ro