There are already record police numbers in Scotland with the result that crime clear up rates are also at a record high. However, while crime rates are generally falling, there is a continued and in some cases growing fear of crime in communities across Scotland. Scottish Liberal Democrats believe that what is needed is a new focus on community policing. We want to invest in police to help cut crime, not waste money on expensive and ineffective identity cards.

That’s why we want to see:

• 1,000 more community police officers, where and when you need them. We want to see at least two additional community police officers in every council ward in Scotland; visible policing on the beat in your neighbourhood.

There are different elements to sentencing policy: punishment of an offender, ensuring public safety, and rehabilitation. Scotland currently has one of the highest imprisonment rates in Western Europe. Yet, despite this, reoffending rates continue to rise with two thirds of offenders committing a further offence within two years of release from prison. On any given day the bulk of prisoners in our jails will be serving very short term sentences with little or no provision or time to address their offending behaviour. Too often this time is simply used to learn new skills for crime. Meanwhile overcrowding continues as the prison population rises and further inhibits the efforts of prison staff to rehabilitate offenders. Scotland’s prison and sentencing framework is not working. We think that sentencing must focus more on cutting crime.

That’s why we want to see:

• tougher community sentences that make the offender work to pay back their crime to the local community. Very short term prison sentences simply reinforce offending behaviour. We will replace them with tougher community sentences. We will give offenders skills for work not crime.
• more clarity and honesty in sentencing.

Areas of Scotland continue to suffer a terrible toll from high levels of violent crime. Too many lives have been lost or disfigured by this culture of violence and particularly knife crime. We want to see tougher sentencing for knife crime.

That’s why we want to see:

• a crack down on knife crime working with police to reduce the supply of knives and weapons.
• maximum seven year combined custody and community sentences. These will be tougher, but with more focus on the reasons behind the offending to cut down on this menace.

The vast majority of young people are not involved in youth crime. In fact less than 1% of young people are persistent youth offenders. That’s why it is important not to demonise young people in Scotland. However, where there are problems with youth crime in an area, we believe in effective long term action to tackle the issues. We think it is important to involve young people to cut youth crime.

That’s why we want to see:

• young people involved in cutting crime. We will build on the effective approach in New York and establish Youth Panels that allow young people themselves to be involved in judging and changing the behaviour of young people before it develops further.

We will only cut crime significantly if we tackle the issue of reoffending. In addition to make sentencing more effective, we will change the way that we deal with prisoners during their time in prison and on their release. We will transform how prison and punishment works to cut crime. We will introduce schemes to provide offenders with skills for work, not crime. Offenders are 13 times more likely to be unemployed than the rest of society and providing transferable skills and training to offenders, with secure employment opportunities will be effective in cutting crime.

That’s why we want to see:

• the Scottish Prison Service replaced with a new Scottish Custody and Rehabilitation Service. We will end the prison service as we know it and transform it into a prison and community based Custody and Rehabilitation Service.
• further modernization of the prison estate so it is fit for purpose in cutting crime.