Beyond McLeish: New ideas, lasting solutions

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

Kenny MacAskill, Cabinet Secretary for Justice, The Scottish Government
The Rt. Hon Henry McLeish, Chair, Scottish Prisons Commission
Dr David Farabee, Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, University of California, Los Angeles USA
Marc Mauer, Executive Director, The Sentencing Project, Washington DC USA and author of ‘Race to Incarcerate’

Seeking change in Scotland's sentencing policy
 A one day conference, Monday 8 September 2008

Scotland’s prison system is facing a crisis. In 2006/2007 the number of custodial sentences imposed in Scotland was just under 18,200, a 9% increase from 2005/06, and the highest figures recorded in the past 10 years. In addition to this almost two thirds of Scottish prisoners are addicts and current methods to treat these substance abuse problems and cut re-offending are just not working, failing both offenders and society.

This timely conference will ask what radical solutions must be sought across all parts of the criminal justice system to treat not just the symptoms, but the causes of crime. This event will debate sentencing options and the need for to keep low-risk offenders out of prison. What options are available to the judiciary and how effective are custodial and community penalties?

By looking at international examples and taking an outward facing approach, experts will debate new solutions to the economic, social and cultural challenges faced by policy makers and the judiciary. By discussing the alternatives to custodial sentences that have been devised in countries such as Finland and the United States, experts will consider the role of rehabilitation, integrated substance abuse programmes and how public funds could be invested more innovatively to force long-term solutions.

This event will bring together experts from within the Scottish prison system and the rest of the world, bringing a range of perspectives and political viewpoints and considering public opinion on policy. This conference will be solutions driven and will ask how the long and short term measures should be implemented now to force change in the future.
Please check our website for more details and regular updates, here http://conferences.holyrood.com/content/view/535/29/
While we are pulling together the final agenda for this event please register your interest here http://conferences.holyrood.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=537&Itemid=0

Alternatively you can take advantage of our EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT by booking your place now.

Venue: Our Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh
Contact: Holyrood Events
Phone: 0131 272 2133
Fax: 0131 270 7089
Email: prisons@holyrood.com