Current Petitions

I am advised that another petitioner is present for PE504. The petition is from Mr and Mrs James Watson on the subject of convicted murderers profiting from their crimes by selling accounts of their crimes for publication.Members will recall that the petitioners called on the Parliament to take the necessary steps to prevent convicted murderers or members of their families from profiting from their crimes by selling accounts of them for publication. In particular, they call for a special court to be set up, with the powers to enforce legislation preventing convicted murderers or members of their families from so profiting. We asked the Executive to comment on a range of specific issues that were raised in the petition and in the presentation that the petitioners made. We have received the Executive's response, which is before us. It would appear that there is a delay in progressing the issue in England and Wales. The Home Office study that everyone has been waiting for seems to be in a bit of a mess and people do not know what to do about the issue. The Home Office still has to publish details of what will happen in England and Wales. The Executive's view is that it would not make sense to take any action in Scotland until the Home Office has completed its work. It is not clear how prisoners are able to have criminal memoirs published when existing regulations prohibit them from sending material relating to their crime or past offences from prison. We could seek clarification from the Executive on that point. The alternatives are to take the view that the Executive's response is reasonable and to take no further action on the basis that the issue will be further addressed following the completion and publication of the Home Office work, or to take the view that there is merit in the Parliament's investigating the matter at this stage and to refer the petition to one of the justice committees for further consideration. The Executive takes the view that it should not do anything until the Home Office publishes its report. I am not sure that that is necessarily the case.

We could write and ask for clarification on how prisoners are able to have criminal memoirs published. We could decide what else to do after we have received the Executive's response.

One would assume that prisoners can do that when they are freed on licence but not when they are still in prison. One would imagine that that is the answer.

One would assume that the convicted people are writing their memoirs when they have been freed on licence, rather than when they are in prison. That gets over their problem of not being able to have their memoirs published when they are in prison. When they are freed and licensed, they can make their memoirs ready for publication.

We can ask the Executive to clarify the issue and to establish whether what Rhoda Grant has said is the case and, if it is, why a condition cannot be attached to a release on licence that would prevent the prisoner from selling their accounts. I think that we should challenge the Executive's suggestion that we await the outcome of the Home Office report. That report should have been published a long time ago and has obviously been botched to a degree. I do not see any reason why the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive cannot take an initiative in relation to Scotland.

Shall we wait until we have had a response first?

I think that we should write to the Executive first. Depending on the response, we could then refer the matter to one of the justice committees to consider. We will state that it is the committee's view that the Executive should be taking the matter forward, rather than waiting for the Home Office report to be published. We would like to know why the Executive takes the position that it does. Is that okay?Members indicated agreement.