Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Barrister: Scots justice should inspire reform across Britain

Barrister and author Chris Daw
Barrister and author Chris Daw

A leading lawyer in England believes changes under way in Scotland’s justice system should inspire similar reform in the rest of the UK.

Barrister Chris Daw visited Scotland to film a series on UK courts and with young offenders at Polmont and spent time with Police Scotland’s Glasgow-based Violence Reduction Unit, which pioneered the idea of treating violence as “an infection that can be cured”.

In a book, Justice on Trial, Daw says Scotland has produced innovative policies that could herald real change in what were thought to be intractable problems like knife crime and drugs. He said: “It’s all about a multi-disciplinary approach, and intervention with young people rather than just treating them as harshly as you can and it has been massively successful.

“The rate of homicide in Glasgow used to be the highest in Europe and now it’s one of the lowest. It’s all part of that ethos of trying to actually find things that work, rather than banging on about let’s lock people up as soon as possible, which is very much the approach you tend to get in the English system.

“I found the Scottish approach to be a breath of fresh air.”

He pointed to how the age of criminal responsibility has been raised from eight to 12 in Scotland. He said: “Scotland is looking to take some of the younger children out of the criminal justice system. In England we are still prosecuting children as young as 10.

“When you put a child in court and in a young offenders institution, you almost guarantee they will be an adult criminal. We are failing in England on that. Scotland is at least showing signs of moving in the right direction.”

And, while Scotland still has serious problems easing the devastation caused by drugs, he said: “Glasgow is at the forefront of experimentation with a heroin-assisted treatment programme – a trial, licensed with the Home Office, to start giving heroin to users rather than them having to buy the drugs from dealers on the street.” In the UK, he said: “Scotland is leading the way.”

But, despite Scotland’s “many green shoots”, he claimed its prisons, in common with those in England, are failing: “There are still a lot of very dangerous, and very unsuccessful prisons, in the sense that people come out and they commit more crime.”

But he added: “Scotland has an opportunity, because of devolved criminal justice, to reform its prison system.

“In Scotland you have a much more measured debate and leaders who, because they have been successful politically and have built an amount of goodwill with the public, will be able to take the public with them in a way that doesn’t happen in England.”

Justice on Trial: Radical Solutions for a System at Breaking Point, Bloomsbury Continuum