How many murders were committed by criminals out of prison on licence in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

The numbers of offenders convictedof murder committed whilst on licence is as follows:
Year
| Number of Murders Committed by those on Licence

2001
| 1

2002
| None

2003
| 2

2004
| None

2005
| 2


The offenders in question werereleased subject to the provisions of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act1993. They had all been sentenced to four years or more. Offenders sentenced toterms four years or more are eligible to be released on parole licence at the directionof the Parole Board after serving one half of the sentence and will be releasedon licence at the two thirds stage of sentence.
The Custodial Sentences and Weapons(Scotland) Bill, currently before Parliament, proposes to end the current system ofunconditional early release and replace it with a system based on an individualassessment of risk. There will be no change to the current law covering the treatmentof life sentence prisoners.