A Youth Justice Board survey in England was able to accept only 14 of the 131 responses it received in February to its public appeal for suggested “community reparation activities that young offenders could undertake”, due to the sadism and brutality of some of the responses, which included flogging and degradation in the stocks, akin to medieval times.

Judicial torture has not been practised like this since the days of the Gunpowder Plot, so it is bizarrely anachronistic that the first instinct of the vox populis (or at least, those who offered their suggestions) is to revert to imposing a penalty that is not only 500 years out of date, but would warrant a prison sentence in all but the most private of exchanges between consenting adults, especially given that the solutions were aimed at young offenders.

The majority of the population is quite evidently able to restrain its urge to whip and humiliate its fellow citizens during their normal social interactions, so it seems unlikely that there is a rabid undercurrent of violence lurking beneath the civil surface of each of us that is craving an outlet. One must look elsewhere to understand why such a sadistic streak rises to the surface now, today in this country, when a public pulse is taken. You don’t have to search too far to see where the tone begins to skew.

Discussing the proper disposal of criminals with anyone who has never visited a prison, studied recidivism, hasn’t spoken to a lifer or who fails to possess sufficient empathy to gain even a rudimentary grasp of the factors that contribute to criminal behaviour and reoffending, it quickly becomes clear that most of those who we can describe as the Great Uninformed seem to be under the impression that prison time is a soft option, an easy ride, or just simply a criminal’s idea of a holiday, and represents far too pleasant and comfortable an option for them. Such perceptions are fuelled and given credence by pronouncements such as those from Kenny MacAskill in late February at the commencement of construction work on Low Moss prison, which he proudly declared would not present an option of “free bed and board” to Scottish prisoners within its walls. What does that even mean? Are they to pay?

The degree to which this statement is both illogical and nonsensical makes one wonder why he uttered it, although the following day’s newspapers obediently repeated his isolated mantra, all the way from the daily breast pamphlets to the big papers, so presumably that was the goal all along. That is the beauty of the headline, and the shame of the populist policies that lead to them; they require neither elucidation nor explanation, neither logic nor context, nor indeed even grammatical correctness to get even the most blunt message across, no matter that the message itself may be vacuous and devoid of reason.

Nevertheless, whether by cause or effect, MacAskill is evidently either in tune with the public mood, insofar as it is evidenced by the Youth Justice Board, or contributing to the cause of it. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the public assumes torture is a logical judicial step, given the drip feed of information coming from the High Court in Binyam Mohamed’s case. Despite the illegality of the practice of torture at the most basic levels of our law, it still appears to be an available option in the minds of our intelligence services & politicians, and thence to sections of the public, who appear to sorely miss its absence from the judicial armoury. A depressing thought, both because of what it says about the level of public ignorance and their tastes, and the tacit acknowledgement that our government is torturing by proxy anyway, and doing nothing to stop it.

So the nation demands the restoration of whipping posts and stocks in our High Streets, for surely, the High Street would be the venue, would it not? And why not, as our political masters have sanctioned it amongst their own employees. Why shouldn’t it be good enough for the man in the street? Perhaps the public would prefer to see the skin flayed from the backs of offenders young and old at the railway station or supermarket car park, rather than outside the newsagents. Would the job of Whipper in Chief be rotated amongst the citizenry or drawn from public ballot, or should it be best left in the hands of trained professionals? Would they wear blue gloves and a face mask to avoid infection from the freshly spilled blood? More likely a balaclava would be required, lest a traumatised relative felt the need for some retribution. Think of the traffic measures that would need to be implemented to cope with jams caused by rubbernecking passers by. There are many logistical and practical aspects still to consider. Would Stockline get the contract for the whips and stocks, given their historic expertise in manufacturing implements of torture for export abroad? Maryhill has a manufacturing heritage to be proud of, and the febrile public should take advantage of it.

Levity aside, the enlightenment sadly seems to have completely bypassed some who offer their views on the treatment of offenders. Prison is by no means a perfect solution,. Some say it is not even a good one. But if we begrudge those whose liberty we have taken from them even something as basic as “bed and board”, then we are on a brutal, slippery path indeed. The responses to the Youth Justice Board Survey and MacAskill’s soundbites prove it. We should, and indeed I do, demand better from our Justice Minister and my fellow citizens, who may need to refresh themselves on Articles 1, 3, 4, 49 and probably also Article 54 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (and that‘s before we touch the Human Rights Act, or human decency). A society that punishes criminals is obliged to rise above criminal behaviour itself, and set a higher standard.

Lest we forget, everyone in prison is coming out some day. Everyone. We want them to come back into our communities, homes, buses and places of business reformed, not brutalised. We can’t begin to offer that safety to the non-offending majority if we fail to factor logic, far less compassion, into the treatment of our offenders.

Steven Raeburn
Editor