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Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf has insisted his plans to slash short prison sentences will make people safer.

He wants to raise the threshold for the presumption against jail from three to 12 months.

Leading judge Lord Turnbull last week warned it could create a loophole for offenders who have pled guilty early to crimes that would normally carry an 18-month tariff.

But Yousaf said his plans have potential to cut crime levels and urged MSPs to support them in a Holyrood vote on Tuesday.

He told the Sunday Mail: “Scotland imprisons more of its people than any other nation in western Europe. These are not statistics to be proud of and numbers have increased despite our action to cut crime and drive down reconviction rates to a 19-year low.

“Even as crime falls, we could keep building more prisons and lock up more people for ever longer periods.

“It might be a vote winner at first but it wouldn’t make Sunday Mail readers safer.

“Instead, I’m determined that we deliver reforms which focus on the root causes of crime.

“Public safety will always be the top priority, which is why we have restricted the system of automatic early release for long-term prisoners and we have seen courts impose a large rise in minimum terms for life prisoners. However, evidence shows locking up people for short periods just doesn’t work.

“In fact, it’s counterproductive and can often result in more crime.”

(Image: Caledonia)

Turnbull, who serves on the Scottish Sentencing Council, pointed out some serious criminals might face a jail stretch of 18 months. But simply by admitting guilt, the automatic built-in reduction for an early plea would take the term down to a year.

That could mean they walk free under plans to reduce the number of short sentences.

But Yousaf has insisted that judges would be free to apply their discretion to sentencing.

The Justice Secretary added: “Contrary to some claims, this will not abolish short prison sentences.

“Judges will continue to be able to hand down a custodial sentence where alternatives are not appropriate.

“Instead, we’re asking judges to think twice when considering a short sentence and to use prison only after considering all available community-based punishments.”

Yousaf also claimed increased investment in community justice services would give courts a better range of punishment options.

He added: “We’re investing over £100million a year – £9.5million more than in 2015-16.

“This includes additional funding to build capacity on community sentences and to support preparations for extending the presumption.

“Clearly, there will always be cases where prison is the right choice and average sentence lengths have increased by a fifth over the last decade.”