Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie is pushing for an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill that would stop voluntary police stop-and-searches in Scotland. The Liberal Democrat leader wants the practice abolished and legislation introduced to ensure that police are unable to abuse such a power and the freedoms of innocent citizens [...]

In 2009, Inverclyde became the first testing ground for the "No Knives Better Lives" programme. Since then, crimes including the handling of offensive weapons have plummeted by 60% in the council area, while the violent crime rate has dropped by 33%. These figures were announced by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill [...]

The Scottish Government is considering introducing a local equivalent of what has come to be known as "Clare's Law" in England and Wales. Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, has expressed a willingness to consider the introduction of such a scheme, which is focused on domestic abuse. The idea has the [...]

Sir Stephen House, Chief Constable of Police Scotland, has admitted that police officers have on occasion reported non-existent stop-and-search encounters. According to Sir Stephen, the vast majority of stop-searches are conducted in a proper manner but it would be "naive" to believe that is no falsifying of cases. Sir Stephen [...]

Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill has confirmed that the country will have its own standalone human trafficking legislation. The proposed Human Trafficking Bill for Scotland is expected to receive the support of the Scottish government before the current parliamentary session comes to an end, Holyrood magazine has reported. The proposals [...]

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) is debating the draft Police Scotland budget for 2014-2016, which contains a proposal representing a first in Scottish police history: the use of seized proceeds to support policing activities. The idea has come to be known as "gangster tax" and was first put forward in [...]

Scottish police have been given a new weapon in their fight against serious organised crime after the government supported the introduction of new serious crime prevention orders (SCPOs). The orders, which have come to be known as "super Asbos," are specifically designed to crack down on Scotland's top crime bosses [...]

The proposed abolition of the corroboration rule in criminal cases in Scotland has sparked heated debate in the legal industry and implementation of the reform will apparently be delayed until a more detailed review on the impact of the change has been completed. News of the delay came from Scotland's [...]

HMP Edinburgh is a well-run penal institution and upholds good practices in 18 areas. However, purposeful activity for inmates is not strictly among them and the second largest prison in Scotland should undertake a review to ensure that its entire population gets access to sufficient activities, according to David Strang, [...]

The Scottish government has announced changes in the planning, management and delivery of offender services. The aim is to further improve the community justice system, building on the success achieved so far in reducing crime and reconviction rates. Every year, the government spends £100 million on community sentence delivery, rehabilitation [...]