Scotland’s reputation for progressive penal policy has persisted and evolved even in the face of exceptionally high rates of imprisonment, community supervision and harm across the Scottish penal system. But growing disillusionment with cycles of reform and renewed interest in abolitionist perspectives necessitates an exploration of what penal alternatives and abolition mean in Scotland? Furthermore, what role does Scotland’s purportedly progressive identity play in sustaining its punitive practices? And what challenges does this pose for research and resistance? Martha O’Carroll’s doctoral research responded to these questions through a critical evaluation of the policy and discourse surrounding the Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 as the legislation responsible for community supervision in Scotland. She expanded and deepened this analysis through an exploration of campaigns and organisations seeking more radical transformations to carceral practices in Scotland, including prisoner advocacy, mad studies and sex workers rights campaigns in the present and a period of prison activism in the 1970s and 1980s.

In this seminar Martha will draw on the findings of her research to cast Scotland’s penal reputation in a new light and explore the implications of this in Scotland and beyond. It will highlight the revalorisation of carceral practices and present an analysis of community, lived experience and co-option in penal policy. Overall the research emphasises the importance of anti-carceral and historically informed strategies for disrupting cycles of reformism and, ultimately, provides a note of caution to those looking to follow Scotland’s example.