By Laurie Watson

ACCORDING TO figures recently released by the Scottish Parliament, convicted sex offenders in Tayside, Central and Fife are spending an average of 15 months behind bars.

SNP MSP Christine Grahame believes the jail sentences being handed down to those convicted of crimes of indecency Scotland are not tough enough and require a drastic overhaul.

A parliamentary answer to the MSP revealed that, across Scotland, the average number of days spent in jail by those convicted of crimes of indecency has fallen from 1203 to 1038 during the past five years.

This represents a reduction of some five months over the period in question.

Crimes of indecency include offences for rape, indecent assault and lewd and indecent behaviour as well as other sexually-related crimes.

Ms Grahame has called on the Crown Office to consider tougher sentencing to ensure public confidence is maintained.

She said, “These figures highlight a downward trend in the length of time convicted sex offenders are spending in jail and I think that sends the wrong message to victims of such crimes, in terms of encouraging them to come forward to report incidents.”

The figures for Tayside, Central and Fife reveal an increase in the detection rate for such crimes during the past five years, and that more convictions were achieved— however, the increase in sentences was marginal.

The number of people who were convicted of sexually-related crimes increased from 81 in 2001-2 to a total of 103 in 2005-2006 across these regions.

The number of indecent assault convictions—which can include attempted rape—also rose from 11 to 17, while convictions for those found guilty of lewd and indecent behaviour has risen from 55 to 63.

Last year a total of 26 people in the Tayside, Central and Fife areas received custodial sentences.

This compares with 12 who were sent to jail five years ago.

With the number of custodial sentences doubling over the past five years, those who are sent to prison today face an average of 32 more days behind bars than they did during the period 2001-2002.

The average prison term in the region was 466 days.

However, the regional breakdowns do not include some of the toughest sentences that were handed down, since the statistics to not include High Court convictions.

As a result, information on the most serious crimes—such as rape, which had an average prison term of 2425 days last year—is not included in the regional breakdown statistics, and can only be applied to the national average.

Ms Grahame said, “I am urging the Crown Office to look again at its guidance on sentencing for this type of offence which sometimes causes lifelong psychological suffering for victims.

“I believe it sends entirely the wrong message to both perpetrators and victims that such offences are not being dealt with as firmly as they once were.

“This may in turn lead to fewer victims coming forward to endure the process of giving evidence in the first instance.”