Reflections on the Sentencing and Penal Policy Commission: Decarceration and Changing Scottish Justice for the Next Generation

Abstract

The independent Sentencing and Penal Policy Commission ran for a year from February 2025 and published their final report, Justice That Works, in February 2026. They held meetings and visits the length and breadth of the nation, including listening to lived experience and practitioners across different contexts, as well as roundtables with victim support organisations. The Commission's recommendations spanned from early intervention and diversion, to seeking to reduce use of remand in custody, to sentencing and courts, through to prisons, community justice, and strategic leadership of Scottish Justice for the future. The ambition of working towards a prison population that is on par with other European nations - meaning a few thousand fewer people in Scotland's prisons - was set out in the report, alongside multi-faceted strategies for how to make progress towards that. Since then, the Commission's recommendations for change have been discussed by Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government. In this CYCJ webinar, a few former Commissioners will offer reflections on key recommendations which are: (1) of particular relevance to young people and those working with them, and (2) focused on decarceration and long-term strategies to shift towards communities.