Cracking down on organised crime in Scotland

The Scottish Conservatives will criminalise membership of organised crime gangs. We would unveil a new law to criminalise membership of serious organised crime gangs as designated by Police Scotland. We are proposing a maximum punishment of up to 14 years for being a member of an organised crime gang, in line with UK legislation which sets out this punishment for members of a proscribed terrorist organisation.

It has been estimated that over 1,400 people in Scotland are members of Serious Organised Crime Groups. The Serious Organised Crime Taskforce has estimated there were 90 Serious Organised Crime Groups operating in Scotland, with a collective membership of 1,421.

Our law would also toughen up proceeds of crime legislation so that more money can be recovered from criminals. Current Proceeds of Crime legislation is over two decades old and all too often allows criminals to get away with not paying back their ill-gotten gains. We would do this through expanding ways in which the recoverable amount of money is calculated in the legislation when criminals are ordered to repay money. We would also look at guaranteeing Police Scotland receive some of the recovered money to encourage them to investigate organised crime gangs in the first place.