More criminals are to be let off with ‘soft touch’ warnings and fines in a bid to ease prison overcrowding, the Mail can reveal.
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Mail → let → overcrowding
Prosecutors have been told to consider imposing lenient penalties to tackle the dire situation in jails when they decide whether or not to charge a suspect.
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they → tell → suspect
Ministers have granted early release to hundreds of offenders including violent thugs to cut the number of inmates in prisons which are buckling under the strain.
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which → grant → strain
Now critics say the ramping up of so-called ‘direct measures’ to divert criminals from prisons means more dangerous offenders will be free to walk the streets.
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offenders → say → streets
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Stephen Kerr accused the SNP government of a ‘surrender to criminals’.
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Kerr → accuse → criminals
He said: ‘This is the latest example of the SNP’s soft touch justice because they have failed to get a grip on Scotland’s prison crisis.
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they → say → crisis
Criminals should not get a slap on the wrist because ministers have run out of space in our jails.
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ministers → get → jails
Stephen Kerr MSP has accused the SNP of surrendering to criminals
More criminals are set to be let off with warnings or fines to ease pressure on overcrowded Scottish prisons
‘Instead of watering down punishment, the SNP should expand capacity and back our plans to send prisoners abroad, so criminals serve the sentences handed to them in full.
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criminals → accuse → them
‘Victims deserve justice - not a system where prison space dictates whether criminals face the full force of the law.
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criminals → deserve → law
The annual report of Deborah O’Brien Demick, His Majesty’s Inspector of Prosecution in Scotland, said Scotland’s prison population is an ‘ongoing issue’.
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population → say → Scotland
It said in March this year, 8,452 people were in prisons across Scotland.
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people → say → Scotland
The report said as a ‘temporary and exceptional measure seeking to reduce the Scottish prison population’, prosecutors have been ‘instructed to have regard to the current pressure on prison population as a relevant public interest factor in their decision-making until the issue is alleviated’.
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issue → say → making
The report said: ‘As part of this, prosecutors were asked to take the use of direct measures into consideration.’
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prosecutors → say → consideration
Earlier this year, the Sentencing and Penal Policy Commission, set up by the SNP government, backed ‘proportionate measures’ – such as warnings, fiscal penalties, restorative options (for example offenders apologising to their victims) and diversion linked to mental-health, substance-use or social work support’ which it said showed ‘strong evidence of effectiveness’.
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it → set → effectiveness
Another recommendation is for ministers to allow police to hand out fixed penalties for threatening behaviour and ‘ascertain if there are further statutory offences that would be suitable for police direct measures’.
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that → allow → measures
This would mean even more people escaping with fines instead of being prosecuted.
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people → mean → fines
Separate figures published by the Crown Office in 2024 showed direct measures such as fines and warnings for suspected domestic abusers had been used in more than 550 cases in the previous year.
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measures → publish → year
The soft-touch system means suspects can escape with a ‘fiscal fine’ as low as £50.
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suspects → mean → 50
Former Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC said overcrowded prisons would not deliver public safety
The number of direct measures dished out to alleged domestic abusers rose from 469 to 555 between 2022-23 and 2023-24, an increase of more than 18 per cent.
The Crown Office has backed the ‘consistent use of prosecutorial direct measures’.
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Office → say → measures
Former Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC, who stepped down in May, said she ‘recognised that prisons are full beyond their capacity’ which ‘will not deliver justice or public safety’.
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which → step → justice
Scotland’s prisons were packed to record levels last year despite emergency early releases, with the prison service admitting it faced ‘unprecedented challenges’ from overcrowding.
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it → pack → overcrowding
The Scottish Prison Service annual report published earlier this week reveals the average daily prison population reached a record 8,278 inmates in 2025-26, while ministers have separately disclosed that prisoner numbers peaked at 8,603 this year despite the prison estate being designed to hold 7,805.
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estate → publish → 7,805
In May 2024, it emerged sheriffs had been urged by Scotland’s top judge to send fewer criminals to jail for short sentences amid a prison overcrowding crisis.
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sheriffs → emerge → crisis
Lord Carloway – who was then the Lord President, the country’s most senior judge – encouraged sheriffs to consider alternatives to jail such as Community Payback Orders to ease pressure on prisons.
David Threadgold, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, representing rank-and-file officers, said: ‘We need much better deterrent to crime and at the moment we just don’t have that.
‘
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we → encourage → that
It’s hard to see how any of this will deter crime, when you have more and more justice policy dictated by logistics rather than public safety.
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you → ’ → safety
‘Fining people doesn’t work when the people on the receiving end don’t have the cash anyway – it’s a waste of time.’
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it → fin → time
A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: ‘Direct measures are a long-established option available to prosecutors in appropriate cases.
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measures → say → cases
‘Guidance issued in response to pressures on the prison population did not alter the requirement for prosecutorial decisions to be taken independently, on the facts and circumstances of each case, and for prosecutors to determine the most appropriate action in the public interest.’
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prosecutors → issue → interest
The Scottish Government was approached for comment.
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Government → approach → comment
The Aporia
