The Scottish Association for the Study of Offending aims to create a common meeting ground, both nationally and locally, for all the professional groups and individuals concerned with the issues raised by offending in Scotland.

It provides an opportunity for an exchange of views by its members, enabling them to explain their own problems and to appreciate the problems of others engaged in related fields.

The Association was called the Scottish Association for the Study of Delinquency (SASD) until 2004 when a decision was made to update the name. In every other respect, the Association remains unchanged.

Association activities

There are SASO Branches in Aberdeen, Dumfries, Dundee, Edinburgh, Fife, Perth, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Orkney and Shetland. Each branch carries out its own programme of meetings and local conferences.

SASO organises an annual residential conference in Peebles on the 3rd weekend in November. It attracts distinguished speakers from both within and outwith Scotland. Recent contributors have included Dr Tapio Lappi-Seppala, Lord Woolf, Kenny MacAskill MSP, Minister for Justice, Professor Sir Anthony Bottoms, the Solicitor General,and Professor Andrew Coyle.

The Association publishes The Scottish Journal of Criminal Justice Studies annually. It contains original articles, research briefings, reviews and conference reports on criminal justice in Scotland.

New

• Glasgow Branch Conference presentations now online. Presentations by Tom McMurchie, Claire McDiarmid, Loraine Gelsthorpe, Monica Barry and Nancy Loucks at the Glasgow branch conference on 'Women and children first?' held in May 2009, are now available on the Branch Conferences page.
• Joint SASO and SCCJR Essay Prize The Scottish Association for the Study of Offending celebrates its 40th Anniversary in 2009. As part of the celebrations, SASO, in conjunction with SCCJR, has launched a competition for the best student essay on the theme of "Kilbrandon to McLeish and beyond: the impact of the last 40 years on future Scottish criminal justice".
  Essays may address any aspect relevant to this theme provided they can demonstrate such relevance. They need not address the theme in its entirety though they are free to do so, and ambition and originality will be viewed favourably. All students, undergraduate or postgraduate, currently studying criminology and/or criminal justice at any Scottish University are invited to apply. The £250 prize will be awarded at the 40th anniversary SASO Conference to be held at Peebles Hydro 13 -15 November 2009, to which the winner is invited as a guest. The winning essay will also be published in the Scottish Journal for Criminal Justice Studies in 2010.
  There is no application form, but submissions, of up to 4,000 words in length, and clearly marked SASO Student Essay Prize should be submitted by e-mail to enquiries@sccjr.ac.uk. Entries should include student’s name and contact details and current course of study. The closing date for submissions is 31st July 2009 and the adjudicators will decide to whom the prize will be awarded by September 30th 2009.
  Leaflet about the essay competition.
• Invitation to lecture by Judge Albie Sachs. There will be a lecture on the rights of children of prisoners given by Judge Albie Sachs of the Constitutional Court of South Africa on Wednesday, 24th June 2009, 6pm-8pm National Gallery of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL. The lecture is organised by Professor Kathleen Marshall Scotland's Commissioner for Children & Young People. For further details see: Invitation flyer and Justice Sachs - biography.
• 18.1.09 New version membership forms now available on the membership page
• SASO has a new administrator. Irene Cameron took over from Carol McNeill on the 7th January 2008.
  Irene's details are:
  Irene Cameron
  Association Management Solutions,
  PO Box 2781,
  Glasgow
  G61 3YL
  Tel/fax 0141 560 4092
  

Forthcoming branch events

• Branch events are held regularly throughout the year. Check SASO Branches for events in your area.