THERE is no better qualified choice for the role of examining the cycle of offending and imprisonment of women in the West of Scotland than Sheila McLean, writes Kirsty Scott.
The professor of law and medical ethics at Glasgow University is the voice of reason and compassion who can address the messy moral questions of our time, such as euthanasia, abortion or cloning.
The last Government asked her to review the law on sperm donation in the wake of the Diane Blood case, where the young widow wanted her dead husband's child. She will now turn her attention to prostitution, drug abuse, and any other factors that drive so many women in Glasgow into the criminal justice system.
A native of Glasgow's East End, Prof McLean, 46, sidestepped a court career after studying law at Glasgow University and became Reporter to the Children's Panel. She re-entered the university as a research assistant in forensic medicine and was eventually asked to put together a medical ethics course which became one of the most popular on campus. With her straightforward, no-nonsense approach, she was frequently called upon to comment on the growing number of dilemmas prompted by the advances in medical technology.
While her speciality lies in the field of medical ethics, she said yesterday her new challenge covers areas she had studied before: ''I have had a kind of academic interest in this area. I taught a course in sex discrimination which covered women as offenders and as victims and as a Reporter for the Children's Panel I had an interest in the criminal justice system.''
Prof McLean said she had studied Fairweather/Skinner's recommendations. ''I think this is a very radical, innovative response to what has been in some ways a long-standing problem - the way in which women get into the system and what happens to them once they are in.''
The key role of the steering group would be to listen to all the agencies involved. ''The main thrust will be to see how these agencies could work together in order to attain a result that's more appropriate to the needs of the women.''
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