Time to Lock Up Drug Dealers

A couple of articles in the press in which I am quoted today (and a quite shockingly bad photo of me in the Daily Record, but we will skim over that) in relation to the proportion of those convicted of supplying illegal drugs serving jail time.

The articles can be found at:

[i] http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1391282007

[ii] http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/news/tm_headline=msp-jail-all-drug-dealers&method=full&objectid=19718926&siteid=66633-name_page.html

Anyway, the articles come on the back of an answer I received to a written question (S3W-3093 if you are interested in having a look at the Scottish Parliament website) with the government which indicates that whilst in 1985-86 some 72% of those convicted of the supply of illegal drugs served a custodial sentence, by 2005-06 this proportion had dropped to a mere 46%. Less than half of those convicted of peddling drugs are doing jail time!

This statistic is despite the fact that in the same period the number convicted of the offence has risen from 244 in 85-86 to 1,562 in 05-06.

It all indicates that Kenny MacAskill is on the right track with his attempts to ensure that those in prison are the ones that should be in prison. It is a nonsense that we send people like fine defaulters to jail (frequently at a cost well in excess of the fine that has not been paid in the first instance) when only 46% of those convicted of the supply of illegal drugs face a custodial sentence.