The Parole Board for Scotland is a

tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a single ...

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of n ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

first established in 1967, with responsibility for

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

decisions. Its decision making and operating are independent of the Scottish Government, and many of its decisions are binding on Scottish Ministers. The Parole Board has statutory powers to: * Recommend the release of

prisoners A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

with determinate sentences or extended sentences of 4 years or more (with

licence A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

where required); * Direct the release of prisoners with

life sentences Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

life licence In England and Wales, life imprisonment is a sentence that lasts until the death of the prisoner, although in most cases the prisoner will be eligible for early release after a minimum term set by the judge. In exceptional cases, however, a ju ...

; * Recommend the conditions to be attached to prisoners' non-parole licences; * Recommend the recall to prison, in the public interest, of anyone released on parole, non-parole or life licence; * Direct the re-release of prisoners recalled to prison. The Parole Board also has the power to advise the Scottish Ministers on additional conditions on prisoners' release licences, and it operates as

appellate body The Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTOAB) is a standing body of seven persons that hears appeals from reports issued by panels in disputes brought on by WTO members. The WTOAB can uphold, modify or reverse the legal findings an ...

for alleged breaches of Home Detention Curfew. The Parole Board can only make a determination where the Scottish Ministers refer a case. John Watt is the current chairman having been appointed to that position on 1 January 2013.

Remit and jurisdiction

Criminal justice system

The Parole Board is part of the

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the Rehabilitation (penology), rehabilitation of o ...

system in Scotland. It is a Tribunal Non-Departmental Public Body which has a number of statutory functions but operates independently from the Scottish Government. It is responsible for making important decisions about the release and recall of long term prisoners, and for setting licence conditions for a range of prisoners to help manage their risk in the community on release.

Referral by Scottish Ministers

The Parole Board has no statutory powers to consider the case of a prisoner unless the case has been referred to it by Scottish Ministers. For each case it receives a range of information that has been prepared by relevant professionals including: a home background report, a prison social work report, a trial judge report (if available), and where appropriate psychological and/or psychiatric report, sentence management reports and prisoner misconduct reports.

Information considered

The Parole Board gives consideration to any information that it receives, including written comments that a victim of a crime can supply about the release of the offender (under the Victim Notification Scheme). Decisions made by the Board are intended to focus on the potential risk a prisoner might pose to the community.

Evaluation

In 2011, an

Audit Scotland Audit Scotland is an independent Scottish public bodies, public body responsible for auditing most of Scotland's public organisations. These include the Scottish Government, Local government of Scotland, local councils and NHS Scotland. Auditi ...

review of Scotland’s criminal justice system noted that the Parole Board is sometimes limited in its ability to grant parole because of the lack of availability of rehabilitation programmes in prison.

Legislation

Procedures around the release of prisoners sentenced on or after 1 October 1993 are detailed in the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993. The legislation covering the parole consideration in relation to these prisoners is set out in the Parole Board (Scotland) Rules 2001. Appointments to the Board are regulated by the

Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland The Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland (OCPAS) regulates and monitors the way in which ministerial appointments are made to the boards of public bodies in Scotland. The Office was founded in 2004, and is headed by the C ...

. John Watt was appointed as chairman on 1 January 2013.

References

External links

* {{CriminalJusticeScotland Parole Tribunals of the Scottish Government Penal system in Scotland