It's real good they did that; real good*

From The Scotsman:

DANGEROUS criminals will continue to be automatically freed from jail long before the end of their sentences, despite growing public anger at the controversial early release scheme.

Although the Scottish Executive faced demands to clamp down on the practice in the wake of the murder of Kriss Donald, Scotland on Sunday can reveal that ministers will continue the scheme.

The new law, to go before the Scottish Parliament, will say offenders must be released after three-quarters of their sentence, regardless of any danger they present to the public.

The shock move comes despite last week's revelation that the career criminal who led the gang that tortured and murdered 15-year-old Kriss had been released early from jail.

Jack McConnell is pressing ahead with the automatic release plan against the advice of the Sentencing Commission, which told ministers they should reserve the power to block early release of dangerous criminals.

Last night, a massive political row broke out over sentencing laws. Opposition politicians said they planned to bring forward an amendment to the bill that would prevent automatic early release. McConnell's critics said the policy was driven more by the need to cap Scotland's booming prison population than public safety.

Scotland's sentencing laws have been thrust back into the spotlight by the racist killing of Kriss, from Glasgow, who was abducted by an Asian gang, tortured, stabbed and set alight. Imran Shahid, the gang leader, and his two accomplices Zeeshan Shahid and Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq were jailed for a total of 70 years last week. It emerged Imran Shahid was only free to commit the crime after early release from a 30-month sentence for assault.

Perhaps there is some strange comfort in knowing that other countries are even more fraked up than we are.

But not much.

*Twilight Zone reference.