Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Scottish Government submission of 20 July 2021
PE1881/A - Longer sentences for paedophiles and sexual predators
Thank you for your email of 22 June, in which you requested the Scottish Government’s written response to the issues raised in petition PE1881.
The Petitioner, Carol Burns has called on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to increase the length of time sexual predators serve in jail.
The Scottish Government acknowledges the bravery of victims of sexual abuse and appreciate that is takes great courage to come forward and report crimes of this nature. We are committed to tackling the sexual and physical abuse of children, young people and adults. These crimes can have a devastating impact on victims and their families and will not be tolerated.
Supporting victims is a priority for the Scottish Government and I have attached a link which lists a number of organisations that may offer help and emotional support: https://www.mygov.scot/rape-assault/support-for-female-victims/.
It may be helpful if I explain that the maximum penalty for the most serious sex offences, including rape, sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault, is life imprisonment. Sentencing in any given case is a matter for the independent court who hear all the facts and circumstances of a case. The Scottish Government is supportive of the courts having such powers so they can decide what is appropriate in a given case.
In addition to the maximum penalties for individual offences (set by the legal framework), the level of court that cases are prosecuted in also can impact on the available sentences. It is the independent Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service who decide what level of court to prosecute certain cases in.
As the Committee will be aware, the Scottish Government cannot comment on or intervene in individual sentencing decisions of our independent courts. This is to preserve the operational independence of the criminal justice system and keep it free from political interference. Judges are best placed to decide on an appropriate sentence for each offender before them as they hear all the facts and circumstances of a case before making their sentencing decisions within the overall legal framework provided by Parliament.
However, as part of the checks and balances within our criminal justice system, the independent Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), who prosecute criminal cases, can appeal against a sentence if they consider it is unduly lenient. Crown Counsel (who are the most senior lawyers in Crown Office) will give careful consideration as to whether a sentence was unduly lenient or if the sentence imposed is within the range available to the judge in the exercise of their normal judicial discretion. This means there are protections in place to guard against sentences which, as a matter of law, are considered too lenient.
Data on sentence lengths is available within the annual Criminal Proceedings publication. This includes data on the length of average custodial offences for sexual offences generally and certain specific sexual offences.