The Scottish Parliament is in recess from 26 June to 29 August 2021 (inclusive).
Please note that you can still submit or sign a petition, however, a response from the clerking team may take significantly longer than usual during this time.
Under consideration PE1881: Longer sentences for paedophiles and sexual predators
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to increase the length of time sexual predators serve in jail.
Previous action taken
I contacted Collette Stevenson MSP for East Kilbride and also contacted the First Minister via email. I received a reply on behalf of Collette Stevenson in full support of this petition.
Background information
Myself and other girls are victims of a serial paedophile and after 33 years he was finally sentenced for the crimes against us. Unfortunately he was sentenced to a short-term sentence of 20 months (reduced to 10 months). I believe that this is not nearly long enough given the severity of his crimes against children.
I strongly believe that the current sentence for people who have abused children, carried out a rape or those who have sexually assaulted another member of the public is not nearly long enough yet offences with less significant harm to others get far longer. These victims go through a life sentence yet the perpetrators barely spend any time behind bars.
A lot of victims of these crimes do not come forward as they do not believe that the time their offenders will receive is long enough, and I would really like this as something that should be changed.
This petition is now under consideration by the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
2,293 signatures