Rehabilitation of Offenders in the Scottish Criminal Justice System

This chapter provides an overview of Scotland’s Criminal Justice System (CJS) in context, identifying some key differences between Scotland’s CJS and other jurisdictions. The chapter includes the systems, describes core CJS organisations, and discusses the rhetoric of rehabilitation in Scotland. The prevalence of a welfare approach, particularly for women and children is discussed, alongside the more risk-focused approach for males persistent in their offending. Several innovations in rehabilitative efforts for example, programmes, electronic monitoring, and changes in sentencing policy, are described. There is some reflection of the limited progress towards the rehabilitation goals set out in ‘Scotland’s Choice’. Potential future goals are briefly considered.