ABSTRACT
Secretary announced his decision to release the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, on compassionate grounds, commenting that ‘in Scotland, we are a people who pride ourselves on our humanity’ as a ‘defining characteristic of Scotland and the Scottish people’ (MacAskill 2009). As he defended this decision in the face of the outrage of many in the Scottish Parliament and elsewhere he would have done so with the Parliamentary Mace and its inscription ‘Wisdom – Justice – Compassion – Integrity’ in view. If the political estate lays claim to these virtues on behalf of a dissenting nation to what extent may it be said that Scottish criminal justice embodies and practises them?
