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\n Our jails are full, it\u2019s mostly the poor and addicted behind bars, and violent crime<\/a> is rising. What can Scotland do to make our country a safer and more just society? Neil Mackay speaks to one the nation\u2019s leading criminologists Dr Alistair Fraser to find out<\/em><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n IT might help to think of Dr Alistair Fraser and his team as mechanics. They lift the bonnet of the Scottish criminal justice system and poke around inside to work out if the engine is fit for purpose. They want to know how \u201cjust\u201d this nation of ours really is in 2022, and their findings will make uncomfortable reading for the Scottish Government.\n<\/p>\n \n Fraser, one of the nation\u2019s leading criminologists, is director of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, run by the universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and Strathclyde.\n<\/p>\n \n There are serious deficits in Scotland<\/a> when it comes to the notion of justice \u2013 nearly all driven by inequality, with mostly the poorest people in society, often suffering from drink or drug problems, landing behind bars.\n<\/p>\n \n Scotland should consider decriminalising drugs, Fraser says, and also setting up a Citizens\u2019 Assembly-style forum where those who have been at the sharp end of crime, poverty and imprisonment can advise the Government on how to create a fairer justice system. Jail should be a \u201clast resort\u201d as prison \u201cperpetuates a cycle of harm\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n Doublethink\n<\/p>\n \n SCOTLAND is engaged in doublethink when it comes to justice: we believe we\u2019re a just, equal society, but the reality is much different and darker. As Fraser says: \u201cThe temptation in Scotland is to say that we\u2019re a just nation, that there\u2019s something intuitively, instinctively just, fair and equal about us, that we\u2019re all Jock Tamson\u2019s bairns. But when you look at the evidence, I\u2019m not really sure that stacks up.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThere\u2019s a story we tell ourselves, a kind of national narrative about justice and equality, but when you look at the reality, when you look in the shadows, you see a lot of inequality and injustice. There\u2019s this national story of \u2018justness\u2019 but also something happening underneath that\u2019s darker.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n He adds: \u201cIn many cases, our criminal justice system doesn\u2019t do anything for social justice, and often compounds inequality and perpetuates injustice.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Prison problem\n<\/p>\n \n THE most glaring problem, Fraser believes, is the prison system. \u201cThere\u2019s a comparatively high rate of imprisonment in Scotland,\u201d he says. \u201cScotland is an outlier in Europe, with one of the highest rates of imprisonment. The Scottish Government says it\u2019s committed to reducing that, but it\u2019s not really moved anywhere. The Scottish Prison Commission looked at setting a target of reducing the prison population from 7,500 to 5,000 in 2008 \u2013 it\u2019s not moved, it\u2019s still the same.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Scotland, he notes, \u201chas increased the number of people under community sentences while not reducing the number of people going to prison, so the result is more people subject to some kind of state supervision\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n In Scotland, the poorest and most vulnerable tend to end up in jail. Fraser explains: \u201cThere are massive crossovers between the populations in prison and issues of mental health<\/a>, addiction, social inequality and injustice. Prison tends to amplify and perpetuate the same sort of systems of social inequality that you see in society at large.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n The rates of suicides and drug-related deaths in prison, Fraser says, \u201care incredibly high, and the systems in place to respond to that are not fit for purpose\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n At the same time, as Scotland\u2019s prison numbers remain persistently high, we\u2019re also facing what Fraser refers to as \u201cthe scandal of legal aid\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n He says: \u201cAs a result of the diminishing amount of funding to legal aid solicitors, basically they\u2019re just walking out on cases. There are people who are in need of legal representation and not able to get it. In terms of how just we are as a society, that\u2019s quite telling.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Fraser points to the Scottish Government publishing its Vision for Justice report last week \u2013 a five-year strategic plan. \u201cOf course, that word \u2018justice\u2019 features frequently along with \u2018fairness\u2019 and \u2018equality\u2019, but what I found surprising is the way this has been phrased as a \u2018vision\u2019 because when you think of the word \u2018vision\u2019, you think of a bold, bright, shiny image of the future, and the steps which would be taken towards building this new future.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201c Reading through the document, I didn\u2019t see much of that. I didn\u2019t see much vision for the kind of radical change that conditions demand. What you see is rather more of the same.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Small nation syndrome\n<\/p>\n \n FRASER wonders if \u201cthe reason for this is down to the fact we\u2019re a small nation\u201d. He adds that, in Scotland, \u201cyou hear and see a lot of people minimising and diminishing issues. We often bring things down to a level that takes the edge off issues in some way. Perhaps this is due to being a small nation and therefore in order to make anything happen we need consensus\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n That\u2019s not how radical ideas emerge, however, and Fraser believes it\u2019s radical ideas which are needed to make Scotland a more just nation. He\u2019s quick to point out, though, that \u201cthere are also a lot of good things that Scotland is doing\u201d. Fraser adds: \u201cI don\u2019t want to be a total downer.\u201d He is a specialist in violence reduction and one of the big success stories, he points out, is that \u201cover the last 15 to 20 years, rates of violence in Glasgow, and Scotland more broadly, have gone down so significantly\u201d. In London, he notes, \u201crates have gone in the other direction\u201d. His peers in England are \u201cconstantly in awe of what\u2019s been achieved in Scotland\u201d over tackling knife crime, gang culture and murder rates.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cSo, it\u2019s also important to recognise that while being a small nation sometimes may get in the way of change, it can also be a real asset too.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Inequality\n<\/p>\n \n WHEN it comes to the question of \u201cjust how just is Scotland\u201d, poverty and inequality are at the heart of the problem. \u201cSocieties that are more unequal tend to have higher rates of crime,\u201d he says. \u201cIf we\u2019re thinking about making Scotland a more just society, addressing social inequality first seems to be absolutely primary.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Fraser worries that the criminal justice system itself \u201cgets in the way\u201d of tackling inequality. \u201cThe flaws in the criminal justice system are central to problems we see around social justice,\u201d he says.\n<\/p>\n \n Perhaps the most intractable problem facing Scotland when it comes to crime, inequality and justice is the inability to break the so-called \u201ccycle of despair\u201d: the journey which sees someone experience abuse or neglect in childhood entering the care system, then as an adult getting locked into addiction, crime and jail, often ending in death.\n<\/p>\n \n Public health\n<\/p>\n \n FRASER believes that key to the success in reducing violence on the streets was \u201cthe shift towards a public health approach\u201d to crime: tackling the causes of why mostly young men picked up knives. He explains the public health approach to crime like this: \u201cThe idea came from the outbreak of cholera in water systems in the Victorian era when it was discovered that rather than deal with the problem after the fact, we needed to treat the water.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n He adds: \u201cThere\u2019s a need for that kind of \u2018upstream\u2019 approach to be broadened when it comes to crime.\u201d A public health approach to offending \u2013 rather than just violent crime \u2013 could target the most vulnerable in society from a young age to prevent them entering that cycle of despair.\n<\/p>\n \n However, Fraser notes there are \u201cdangers\u201d in taking a public health approach to all crime. He warns that it could become a \u201ccatch-all the way that post-9\/11 national security became the reason the state needed to intrude into your life and surveil you\u201d. The same problems could arise around privacy and the use of \u201cdata for public health\u201d as officials would use information from the NHS, education<\/a>, police and the welfare system to get a \u201cwraparound understanding of a person\u2019s life to find the most appropriate upstream form of intervention, and that obviously has a potential conflict with a person\u2019s right to privacy\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n Police, though, are already \u201ctalking much more in terms of public health approaches to crime. Crime takes up an increasingly smaller part of police time. They\u2019re dealing with all kinds of different crises, such as mental health, that aren\u2019t directly to do with crime\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n It\u2019s also important, however, to remember that \u201cpoverty isn\u2019t the cause of all crime\u201d, Fraser says, pointing to \u201cgendered violence and cyber crime\u201d as just two examples.\n<\/p>\n \n Political will\n<\/p>\n \n THE short-termism of politicians working to election cycles and fearing accusations that they\u2019re \u201csoft on crime\u201d is a \u201cperennial problem\u201d, Fraser says.\n<\/p>\n