Parole Board for Scotland

The Parole Board for Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Bòrd Cead-saoraidh na h-Alba) is a tribunal non-departmental public body in Scotland first established in 1967, with responsibility for parole decisions. Its decision making and operating are independent of the Scottish Government, and many of its decisions are binding on Scottish Ministers. The Parole Board has statutory powers to:

Recommend the release of prisoners with determinate sentences or extended sentences of 4 years or more (with licence where required); Direct the release of prisoners with life sentences on life licence; Recommend the conditions to be attached to prisoners' non-parole licences; Recommend the recall to prison, in the public interest, of anyone released on parole, non-parole or life licence; Direct the re-release of prisoners recalled to prison. The Parole Board also has the power to advise the Scottish Ministers on additional conditions on prisoners' release licences, and it operates as appellate body for alleged breaches of Home Detention Curfew. The Parole Board can only make a determination where the Scottish Ministers refer a case. John Watt is the current chairman having been appointed to that position on 1 January 2013.

1. Remit and jurisdiction


1. = Criminal justice system =

The Parole Board is part of the criminal justice system in Scotland. It is a tribunal non-departmental public body which has a number of statutory functions but operates independently from the Scottish Government. It is responsible for making important decisions about the release and recall of long term prisoners, and for setting licence conditions for a range of prisoners to help manage their risk in the community on release.

1. = Referral by Scottish Ministers =

The Parole Board has no statutory powers to consider the case of a prisoner unless the case has been referred to it by Scottish Ministers. For each case it receives a range of information that has been prepared by relevant professionals including: a home background report, a prison social work report, a trial judge report (if available), and where appropriate psychological and/or psychiatric report, sentence management reports and prisoner misconduct reports.

1. = Information considered =

The Parole Board gives consideration to any information that it receives, including written comments that a victim of a crime can supply about the release of the offender (under the Victim Notification Scheme). Decisions made by the Board are intended to focus on the potential risk a prisoner might pose to the community.

1. Evaluation

In 2011, an Audit Scotland review of Scotland’s criminal justice system noted that the Parole Board is sometimes limited in its ability to grant parole because of the lack of availability of rehabilitation programmes in prison.

1. Legislation

Procedures around the release of prisoners sentenced on or after 1 October 1993 are detailed in the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993. The legislation covering the parole consideration in relation to these prisoners is set out in the Parole Board (Scotland) Rules 2001. Appointments to the Board are regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland. John Watt was appointed as chairman on 1 January 2013.

1. See also

Parole Board for England and Wales

1. References


1. External links

Official website

Nearby Places View Menu

175 m

Battle of Boroughmuir

The Battle of Boroughmuir was fought on 30 July 1335 between Guy, Count of Namur, a cousin of Queen Philippa of England, and John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray and Guardian of Scotland. Namur was on his way to join Edward III on his invasion of Scotland, when he was intercepted on the common grazing ground to the south of Edinburgh – the Borough Muir. The fighting continued into the city itself, and concluded in a desperate struggle in the ruins of the old castle. Randolph was victorious in a fight which forms a small part of the Second War of Scottish Independence.

Historic Site Landmark

Burgh Muir

The Burgh Muir is the historic term for an extensive area of land lying to the south of Edinburgh city centre, upon which much of the southern part of the city now stands following its gradual spread and more especially its rapid expansion in the late 18th and 19th centuries. The name has been retained today in the partly anglicised form Boroughmuir for a much smaller district within Bruntsfield, vaguely defined by the presence of Boroughmuir High School, and, until 2010, Boroughmuirhead post office in its north-west corner. In terms of today's street names, the historic muir (Scots for 'moor') extended from Leven Street, Bruntsfield Place and Morningside Road in the west to Dalkeith Road in the east, and as far south as the Jordan Burn and east to Peffermill, thus covering an area of approximately five square miles. The names of the historic roads that bounded it were the "Easter Hiegait", corresponding to Dalkeith Road, and the "Wester Hiegait" corresponding to Bruntsfield Place and Morningside Road. The last surviving open space of the former burgh muir is Bruntsfield Links, a public park adjoining the Meadows to the north.

Neighbourhood Park

The Grange, Edinburgh

The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hill to the south. It is a conservation area characterised by large early Victorian stone-built villas and mansions, often with very large gardens. The Grange was built mainly between 1830 and 1890, and the area represented the idealisation of country living within an urban setting. The suburb includes streets which are renowned for their pricey properties, and it is home to some of Scotland's richest people, top lawyers and businessmen. Whitehouse Terrace, in the Grange area of the Capital, was named as the priciest postcode in Zoopla's 'Rich List for 2021'.

Alexander Russell Simpson

Sir Alexander Russell Simpson FRCPE FRSE LLD (20 April 1835 – 6 April 1916) was a Scottish physician and Professor of Midwifery at the University of Edinburgh. He invented the axis-traction forceps also known as the obstetrics forceps which assisted in childbirth and reducing pain.