WENDY: COMMUNITY SERVICE FAILING UNDER SNP

- Stats reveal around 1 in 3 dodge full sentences in Renfrewshire -

Around 1 in 3 criminals in Renfrewshire are failing to complete their community sentences, according to shocking statistics obtained by Scottish Labour.
The new figures reveal that across Scotland, a third of all offenders that start community orders do not finish them.

Wendy Alexander has branded SNP plans to extend the community order scheme as ‘dangerous’.

Wendy said:

“These breaches should not be happening. If someone has been given a community sentence then it should be completed.

“This is a hammer-blow to the SNP’s badly thought out plans to scrap six month jail sentences and replace them with community orders.”

Richard Baker, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Justice, added:

“The community service system that Kenny MacAskill wants to extend by over 12,000 places is already on its knees.

“Over a third of criminals don’t complete their sentences but Kenny MacAskill is hell bent on extending the scheme. For community service to have the confidence of the public and the judiciary you cannot have a failure rate of over a third. The only people that will be cheering at this bleak news are Scotland’s criminals.”