(December 19 2025) This paper sets out a bold and compassionate vision to support those in crisis within Scottish prisons, and marks the beginning of a new approach.

(December 19 2025) Rapid evidence assessment reveals the most effective interventions for tackling night-time violence linked to alcohol consumption.

(December 18 2025) This report contains summary statistics covering a number of important justice and safer communities areas. It is updated with the most recently published statistics.

(December 17 2025) Full research findings on the early impact and emerging outcomes of the application of the Scottish Prison Service Strategy for Women in Custody 2021-2025 in the context of the new Community Custody Units (CCUs).

(11 December 2025) This report presents the findings of an HMIPS review of the experiences of remand prisoners in Scotland. The findings are drawn from observations on remand halls, interviews with remand prisoners, and analysis of the HMIPS Pre-Inspection Prisoner Survey results (2022-24). The review focuses on the real-life experiences of remand prisoners, highlighting their concerns over their treatment and conditions. Their voices are at the heart of this review. While the review did not seek to independently verify every comment or concern raised, taken together these accounts provide valuable insight into how prisoners perceive and experience life on remand.

(11 December 2025) This research was commissioned in direct response to Recommendation 6 of the Fatal
Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the deaths of Katie Allan and William Lindsay (Brown). The FAI recommended that the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) explore the availability and cost of alternative bedding materials for young people in custody specifically, materials that, while not certified as anti-ligature, are significantly more resistant to tearing or manipulation than standard bedding. 

(11 December 2025) A new report has called on Police Scotland to make clear its policy on drug harm reduction. His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland has carried out a detailed review to assess how effectively Police Scotland help minimise drug related harm. It found while Police Scotland has made a valuable contribution to drug harm reduction – including equipping more than 12,500 officers with the overdose reversing drug naloxone – significant gaps remain. The report recommends Police Scotland define its role and purpose in supporting the public health approach to drug harm reduction.

(10 December 2025) Gender Based Violence (GBV) is a global and pervasive public health issue as well as a violation of human rights. Estimates suggest that globally one in three women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetimes. Across Europe, at least one in six women have been raped and in 2023/24 there were, on average, 21 rape and/or sexual assaults every day in Scotland. Some of these figures are likely underestimations as it is known that many survivors do not report their experiences to police. The real figures may therefore be much higher with the World Health Organization referring to GBV and Violence Against Women (VAW) as a ‘problem of pandemic proportions’. This short blog considers GBV, in particular sexual violence, and focus on research that is being completed in Scotland using both a human rights and a public health approach.

(2 December 2025) Submission to the Independent Review of the FAI system for Article 2 Deaths in State Custody.

(26 November 2025) The inspection report said this ‘outdated approach’ is not only ‘prone to error and gives poor quality impressions’ but is ‘laborious’ and slows down the process of identifying detainees who may be trying to conceal their identity.

(26 November 2025) - The report provides an analysis of the quality of custody centre operations and the provision of healthcare services. It outlines key findings identified during our inspection and makes four new recommendations for Police Scotland concerning custody operations. It highlights previous recommendations made in recent inspections of other custody centres across Scotland where the same, or similar, issues were found to be evident. The report also makes 36 recommendations across the four health boards that have responsibility for healthcare provision in the custody centres visited by our inspectors.

(10 September 2025) SHRC recommend detailed consideration by the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament of the administration of OLRs in Scotland, taking account of the views of people with lived experience, including victims.

(10 September 2025) The National Missing Persons Framework for Scotland (2025) provides updated roles and responsibilities of respective agencies, standardising key practice from a wealth of good practice across Scotland, that aims to help and safeguard those who go missing through multi-agency working.

(9 September 2025) Police Scotland is set to crack down on cybercrime and fraud – including the rise of ‘deepfakes’ and other online deceptions – through a new academic partnership. The national force is to work with experts at Abertay University to build greater national cyber resilience – in a bid to improve detection rates and digital forensic capabilities.

(9 September 2025) Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.