By Bill Heaney
It often happens when an appeal goes out on TV to the public to watch out for a particular person who is dangerous, people in the room ask: “How the Hell did he ever get out in the first place?”
Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP has today sought clarification from the Justice Secretary, Keith Brown, regarding a newly discovered IT issue in the risk assessment system which helps those in the Scottish justice system make decisions around sentencing, release and access to programmes.
Justice Secretary Keith Brown, interior of Barlinnie Prison and LibDem Liam McArthur.
Speaking in Parliament, Mr McArthur asked whether the key component for assessing the risk of convicted people, which feeds into how the justice system deals with them, which has been displaying information wrongly, was overstating or understating the risk of the offenders.
As of now, it is known that on 1,317 occasions the system has displayed the wrong risk level. The wrong ranking fed into decisions including whether people should be released from prison, sentencing decisions, and even whether they should be subject to MAPPA monitoring for sexual offenders. However, the Cabinet Secretary said the investigation is still ongoing.
Commenting after the exchange Mr McArthur said: “This fiasco is profoundly concerning and will give rise to understandable public alarm.
“Over one thousand people could have either suffered longer sentences, or been released much sooner than they should have. There are no winners in this situation.
“The Cabinet Secretary sought to reassure parliament and the public. However, a statement heavy on jargon but light on detail falls far short of what’s needed. The government needs to clear up the outstanding questions without delay’.
ENDS