Commenting after the Scottish Parliament voted to extend the presumption against short prison sentences from three to 12 months, Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said:

“Scottish Liberal Democrats have been calling for stronger presumption for years.

“All the evidence shows that sending people to prison for a matter of months does much more harm than good. Parliament has today endorsed that. By contrast, robust community-based sentences have a much better track record of rehabilitating people and reducing reoffending rates.

“This policy will now need to be backed by the resources to make criminal justice social work a success but it’s the right thing to do to make our communities safer and our justice system more effective.”