IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE, IT'S TIME TO BE BRAVE

As parliament prepares for business, Jenny Booth , in her final article as
home affairs reporter, sends the lawmakers a letter

DEAR MSPs. When you come back from holiday next week, you will be able to
get down to government and wield your legislative powers. Please take a
look at Scotland's criminal justice system. It needs your help.

Start at the top with who runs it. You'll see some anomalies in the way
power is shared out. In fact it isn't shared out at all, it is concentrated
in too few hands.

POWER

There are the judges. They have to be independent of the government, who
will want them to find certain people guilty and hand down sentences which
suit popular views. The danger is most acute in controversial cases like
Noel Ruddle, Jason Campbell, and the Balerno Three.

But, the judges can't be truly independent because they are hired - and in
the case of temporary sheriffs, fired - by the Lord Advocate, a member of
the government.

Then there is Scotland's prosecution service, aka the Crown Office. It has
to be independent of the government too, to prevent people being prosecuted
for political reasons.

But, the prosecution service is also run by the Lord Advocate, who sits in
cabinet wearing his other hat as the government's legal adviser. Are we
really expected to believe that he can separate his two jobs, however much
he wants to?

To remove these anomalies, you need to do two things. First, have the Lord
Advocate's job divided up, so that he becomes just the head of the
prosecution service. Someone else should be appointed as the government's
legal adviser, and sit in Cabinet if required. This will reduce the risk of
the Government influencing prosecutions, and, equally important, reduce any
suspicion in people's minds that this is going on.

Second, campaign for an independent judicial appointments board to hire
judges, to handle complaints against them and to trigger disciplinary
procedures. This will help to keep political influence, and the suspicion
of it, out of what goes on in court.

You will find that Jim Wallace, your justice minister, is sympathetic, so
keep pushing.

Opponents will say that it is too expensive, and that the board will only
appoint the same people as the Lord Advocate would, because it is a small
world at the top of the Scottish legal system. That doesn't matter - the
real issue is public confidence. Besides, there is a strong chance that the
European Convention on Human Rights will mean you have to set up a judicial
appointments board anyway, so do it before you get forced into it.

ACCOUNTABILITY

To keep us safe we have given the police more powers than ordinary
citizens: to question people, arrest them, lock them up and report them to
the prosecutors.

In return, we have a right to expect accountability. Unfortunately, we
don't get it. Scotland's eight police forces are run in a manner that
sometimes resembles eight private armies.

When things go wrong, they are referred to the police complaints system.
But this is run too much by police officers for the benefit of police
officers.

And there is some suggestion that the courts and the prosecution service
collude in this. In 1997-98, there were 1,112 complaints of criminal
conduct by police officers. Only 23 officers were prosecuted and only two
were convicted. Does this sound fair to you?

In the long run, Scotland needs an independent police complaints authority
with powers to investigate and prosecute police officers who do wrong. In
the short term, you must campaign to make the existing complaints system
more open and accountable.

The police will argue that they co-operate with the Government and liaise
with communities through elected councillors. They will say that this
tripartite agreement guarantees policing by consent. They are right.

In practice, however, the Government has little influence over the
procedures of our eight police forces. These remain the prerogative of
individual chief constables. For example, the Scottish executive cannot
order police forces to implement the recommendations of the Stephen
Lawrence inquiry. It can only suggest, and ask the inspectorate of
constabulary to monitor events.

You could change this by increasing the power of the Government over the
police, perhaps by creating a single national police force. But this would
run the risk of unbalancing the tripartite arrangement, and turning the
police into the government's attack dogs, as appeared to happen in England
during the miners' strike.

The alternative is to be vigilant. You will have the power to ask chief
constables to attend parliament and explain themselves, so use it.

COURTS

The government spends A380 million a year on prosecuting people and
running the courts. Scotland is proud of its criminal justice system, but
it was designed for an earlier age, when trials were less complex and far
fewer people went through the courts.

The hours, dress codes and procedures of our courts are rooted in the past,
and mainly benefit the lawyers who run it, not the victims, witnesses and
accused people who have to use it.

Now it needs an overhaul, to remove the unnecessary delays and make the
whole business more user-friendly. This will take a Scottish parliamentary
commission of inquiry.

In the meantime, press for the appointment of more full-time sheriffs, to
get rid of our reliance on temporary sheriffs who work only a few days a
month. They may be cheap but their inexperience makes it harder for them to
do a decent job. The sentences they pass are sometimes erratic and
inconsistent, which is bad for justice. It is also harder to timetable
trials when they are so rarely available, and this adds to judicial delays.

Most of the A31 billion cost of Scottish justice is spent on legal aid,
police, prosecutors and prisons, addressing crime and the criminal, yet
little more than A31 million is spent on the victims of crime, who have no
legal rights in our justice system.

Please give victims the right to a fair hearing and better treatment by the
police, the procurator-fiscal service and the courts. Remember that better
work with the victims of sex crimes is the key to improving the courts'
poor record on prosecuting sex offenders.

OUTCOMES

The point of a criminal justice system is to allow society to work
smoothly, and to prevent troublesome elements within society from harming
others. People tend to get confused and think the best way of doing this is
through punishment, and that punishment means prison.

The problem with this is that if you look at the people who pass through
the criminal justice system, few of them are really bad, evil people. Most
come from the poorest 10 per cent of society.

Half of all crime is related to the drugs poor people take to make their
life a less horrible experience. Many of the remaining crimes are related
to the bizarre, twilight world of TV-licence dodging, shoplifting and
non-payment of council tax parents resort to when there are no jobs, they
are in debt, and they are trying to bring up three children on A386 a week
benefit.

If you don't believe such a world exists, talk to your constituents.

Imprisoning these people does not make them stop offending. Being in prison
splits up families, makes it impossible to get a job - in fact, makes them
poorer, angrier and more desperate.

Of course people who rob and steal from other people deserve punishment. In
some cases, people are not being punished enough. Sentences passed by the
courts are based on precedent. Why should someone who has abused several
children for a decade get only a couple of years in jail?

But in the long term, if you want to reduce crime, make sure there is less
poverty. No family with young children should be living on less than A3200
a week. Divert all drug addicts out of crime by offering them treatment for
their addiction. You can save some money by closing Longriggend young
offenders' institution. While you are at it, ask for Low Moss prison to be
totally rebuilt, as its wartime wooden huts are a sink for drug-takers.

GOODBYE

A lot of this takes extra money. In return, it will make you all safer. It
will save Scottish people misery and eventually money.

Goodbye - I'm off to work for The Scotsman in London. I've enjoyed the last
30 months as home affairs correspondent. It was the last editor but two who
appointed me, and I have often thought it was his idea of a joke, as I am
English, female, and have no legal training, while Scottish justice is so
very patriarchally Scottish, male, and professionalised. Kind police,
lawyers and prison officers helped me take the bloom off my ignorance. They
will do the same for you. Good luck.

Shug