All right, cyber traders, welcome on back here this Tuesday, June 13th, shortly after 2.30 PM Eastern. I hope everybody's having some fun. We've had a phenomenal day so far, hopefully an even better afternoon lined up here, heading into the close. But great to see all of our students and members live inside our cyber group trading room. We have Michael still with us here, just before we had Elizabeth a moment ago, Chuck, Brian, Kathleen, Warren, and all of our students coming off the Traders Talk workshop. We had done that just earlier this morning inside our live trading room. So great to have Jeff, Michael, Phil still with us here. And perhaps if you're just joining us on our social streams, Facebook Live, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, The Works, hey, welcome on back folks. So let me just ask really quickly, we did come off Traders Talk just earlier today, and I mean even after that, we continue to see some runs on AI and Carvana, which is shown here. Has anyone hit their days pay so far? Your days pay, your daily goal, whatever number that may be, have you hit your days goal yet so far today? If so, just give me a quick chat back. That's all I'm asking. You'd like to ask that question inside our live trading room as early as 10 a.m. Eastern time. And we've had a bunch of us actually mentioned that earlier today.  They finish up on the morning, and that's that. So I'm not speaking to a full house like I was earlier. Phil, close to his days pay on the AI trade, that was the big runner that we caught just before. Barbara, hit it just a moment ago. Sydney came off a coaching call just earlier today as well. He just nailed it, very nice to see that from Sid. And like I always say to Sid and other members here, hey, if you haven't taken a trade like Jeff H wrote, no news is not bad news. Now, hey, certainly someone like Jeff, who's a platinum student of CTU, he knows. And a lot of us know that there's always gonna be another trade tomorrow. So if you miss out on one today, it's not the end of the world. The market's not closing permanently, folks. Now, with that in mind though, allow me to get excited a bit here, with that said, because Caravana, we'll get back to it in just a bit. But what an unfreaking believable run that we caught on this AI trade today. And in fact, we kind of started off traders talk with this AI trade, it was already running by the time you were beginning it, wasn't even expecting to see such a sharp run at that exact time.  It was right off of 38, 38, 60-ish. And then from there, as it rebroke over those prices, it ended up then making the much larger move that it could have had from earlier and boy, did it pay off. Ended up making this huge pop nearly for about seven points up, basically, from 38 and change up towards just about 45 and so. So a phenomenal move, and especially if you're to trade the calls like we were suggesting off of 38 as it made the pop, in the money to begin with, you're not looking for a move up to 45 exactly, let alone 40 exactly. If you can get just a quick little dollar pump on the equity, you're gonna do well on the option play.  I ended up taking half my trade out from 39, 22, and I still have the second half, believe it or not. I'm looking for higher lows to build up your heading into the afternoon, and then otherwise, if they don't, no, it's yank the trade. It's been a really nice trade all together. No need to be perfect when you have a very pristine entry, and that's what we train you to do. So that said, AI, a phenomenal move. But then again, we had AI and we also had Carvana, which as we finished up traders talk, it wasn't really pumping as well at the time, but as we came off the weekly workshop, you're calling out Carvana for a move back up towards 2250, and the more times it needles that level and knocks its head on that ceiling. You're looking for a big move. If it ends up making a pop and then drop, perhaps it could fall the other way and make a reversal the complete other direction, but the more times it shows higher lows, keeps cracking its head on that resistance, it led to the better play. So very similar with AI, Carvana, beautiful run heading into the early to mid afternoon. Those were the two big ones that we were talking about mainly. We did well this morning on FWBI, we did well on the IPX actually, let me get to that. That was more from the early morning session, chart looks like crap now, but at least have to mention this, from early this morning, popped up at first in pre-market, and then just once the market opened, we had called out the initial pop. I know a couple of us were able to jump in and get a couple of bucks on this trade, but this was a lot more dangerous. Much larger spread, much thinner volume out there. It got halted a few times up and down collectively, and yeah, I mean, hey, if you walked away unscathed on this trade, congratulations, and with that, I mean, hey, just this type of stock is incredibly dangerous, just given more of the liquidity rather than the percentage move. There's actually safer trades that could be up a lot more percentage wise if it has a much more liquid and filled in order books. So, the combination just either way of illiquidity plus just it's up a lot, you don't wanna hold on to this type of trade. So, for right now, this IPX we're definitely just done with here. We'll see if it's gonna make a move later in the week, but honestly, what makes the percent gainers list one day often makes the percent losers list the next. Don't be surprised that this is down 20, 30% tomorrow morning to start. Hey, we talked about it earlier on FWBI, very low float, very low number of shares outstanding. Don't get stuck holding on to a trade like this. I didn't even see what happened here at this point at one o'clock, so I guess it made some sort of crazy move down, it moved back up and got halted on the way up actually, that's what I could see there. But after that, even a fail to pump higher and now look at it now. So, dropped off another 50 cents from there. Right now, just on the Caravana trade, just we started off with AI and Caravana. I'm gonna put those two on the main list and with Caravana, I'd called out the support earlier just a little while ago, it bounced off it afterwards at $23.22, so simply put for that trade it just needs to hold above $23.22 for me. And it's been bouncing so far there. OCFT, it's at the highs. Again, same deal with this as we said on IPX, just because it's at the highs, doesn't mean it's a great trade.  We are not here to roll the dice, especially stock like this we talked about. That's okay. Hey, we have the Fed meeting concluding tomorrow, so we've had a great day so far already, markets are pulling back a bit here, so perhaps we'll find some shorts to work with going into the close, if we don't find anything good from the gainers list here.  Caravana, AI and Tito's will go with TIO. GRCO, Michael commented on Dave and Buster's play. Yeah, had a nice pop earlier today and it is at the highs, right? It kind of reminds me of the GitLab trade, just similar price coming off the earnings. GitLab you're following into the afternoon even at that time, so this is even showing better direction at anything compared to GTLB back then. So you know what, I'll add this here. Little expensive, but nice move here so far, hopefully a better play up closer to 50. Oh, scanner's refreshed on me there. All right, let's see what else we got here otherwise. A bunch of stocks still up percentage wise here, so if there is anything looking good from the gainer's list folks, type it in early, let me know. Just looked at KC, which wasn't half bad. Big is showing some decent direction, beautiful bounce back up off 775 and moving back up towards that eight level here. So yeah, big will make the list here for right now. I like this big Lodge trade, ended up making a big pushback from last week and breaking above those highs right now. All right, what else we got? We got EH, EH, it's looking pretty EH. All right, what else we got here? Beyond meat, I think Elizabeth did pretty well on that trade earlier from not mistaken. No short squeeze candidate, don't get me wrong for as much as this had dumped off like a year and a half ago or a year ago just about, but I'll keep this on the side list at least BYND. Maybe I'll come back to this by the end of it all. Yeah, the sole from earlier today to beautiful trade from the morning here, SOL, just it's really flat though for the meantime. So if it was showing better direction across the afternoon or more volume traded like literally any more volume than this, you know, I'd be happier with it, but right now I'll pass. All right, markets are slipping here folks. So I'd be careful on those trades, even the ones that we have on our list, AI and Carvana, you know, if Carvana breaks under that 23-22, that's basically gonna wrap up the trade that I've been in, took some profits out earlier as it was moving up towards 24. Well, the calls I got out just at 299, but it's dropped off a little bit since and it's gotta remain higher lows, that's all.  I just looked at this only because it was trading a lot of volume, but it's 21 cents, can't do that.   What goes up comes back down, big trees fall hard folks.  SMCI, not really looking that great. All right, so folks, let me know if there's anything looking good in either direction, namely on the way up, but if there is a stock that's dropping pretty sharply with the market here on the pullback, let me know as well. Matt's saying edit, which I may have noticed. Yeah, I saw that on the gainer's side. I didn't look at it though. So EDIT, good heads up on this. It is squeezing back up right now.  I wish it was trading more volume per minute, but for right now the spread seemed to be somewhat contained and yeah, moving back up. So good call, I'll add this here, EDIT from Matt H. Steve was big already, that was a little while ago. We caught that one already looking good. There's my Carvana moving back up off right off of 2322. Gotta love to see it folks. Gotta love to see it so far, but we got a lot of ball left. So it's a nice start, but let's have a really strong finish on this trade here for Carvana. Right off that 2322, right? All right, social media, what do you got for me? Anyone on YouTube, Facebook Live, et cetera? Hey, be a friend, tell a friend first. Just make sure that you're subscribed right to our YouTube channel. We're gonna be posting a couple more videos from our Traders Talk workshop later on this evening, into tomorrow morning, but otherwise for anyone there live right now, let me know if there's anything that I missed. I'm missing some fresh water here. I don't have my cup filled up next to me. All right, so folks, we're looking dynamite right now here so far in Carvana. Let's see if there's anything else looking good across Benzinga. We like to jump to our Benzinga Pro scanner here. Hook, Tito's, which we talked about already. We traded hook in the past. It's like just a really cheap stock though, so let's see if it's like a pop and drop type of play or what, nothing really looking too tempting either way, folks, otherwise. This will pop earlier on this trade hook, but yeah, right now I'll pass. All right, gonna take my email address here early on social, just folks, if you have any questions or trades that you'd like to go over with me on the side, of course, open house for all of our students, you folks come first, but for anyone of us just on social that wanted to send over a follow up question from today's meetings, just feel free to shoot me over a quick email, Josh at cttrading.com. But otherwise, if you're interested in joining us inside our live trading room, my colleague Rich will be back on the mic at 3 p.m. Eastern and he'll be providing commentary going into the closing bell for students like Michael, Leda, Steve, Grant, Elizabeth and the 112 of us here right now actually. Full house today, in fact. Michael's saying QS, let's see. Made a nice move earlier, really nice move. Write this down for my side list, that's for sure. Definitely not gonna forget this come tomorrow morning, Mike. But it looks like lower highs for it now, pass on here so far. Beyond meat as we jump back to our proverbial side list here. Hey, happy I came to this here before we finished up. Beyond meat, starting to squeeze back up again. Showing at least a little bit better direction on the immediate term. So I'll add this here to wrap it up. All right, so folks in total, we got two, four, six, seven stocks to work with here heading into the market close. Hey, start and stick with this list, folks. Then around 315-ish or so, if nothing from this list is making a good move, then let's see what else is out there, right? But hey, let's work together as a team heading into the market close and best of luck trading all together. Talk to you all soon.


As to Edmund, 10 on the shot clock. Edmund picks up his dribble, gives it back to Dangerfield, fakes the three, thought about a longer three. Instead, James, James wants to drive, kicks it back out to Edmund who just has to hoist one up. It's short, rebound pulled down. That's Johnny Rhodes ahead to Marlon White. Three up, three down! White Jr. from Johnny Rhodes. Stevenson with their first lead, sends the first half. 90 to 87, Lycoming needs a timeout.


Hey everyone, happy Friday today is December 28th. Welcome to this week's video update Hope everybody had a great Christmas great holiday I don't know if if you guys are like me these those long holidays where the markets closed for three four or five days in a row I don't know about you, but I get a little anxious. You know, I'm ready for him to turn the machines back on So glad to glad to be back, but it's also good to take some time off as well Before we jump into the alerts just wanted to make mention of this week's who got caught being hot in the community and This one this week goes to our friend from across the pond in Prague Andre congrats, buddy and also had a birthday this week. So happy birthday and Thank you so much for helping other traders in our community if you haven't checked out His posts from earlier this week yesterday Thursday the 27th. He just he he's been trading for quite a while He's tried out a lot of different trading services And so he he made some pretty detailed posts about his experiences over the year So really helpful. I thought it was really really well put together and thought out So if you haven't checked that out Go do so in the community and with that let's jump into this week's alerts So had a short week. We didn't do any trades on Monday, which was Christmas Eve. The market was open half-day Which some good volume in it up coming in Kind of near the close But we we opted just to wait until after Christmas to do any trading, but we still got quite a few alerts in Just in that in that shortened week. So let's start with Wednesday And our first trade alert was in DIA The Dow ETF, we've got a couple sets of short call verticals And in this case, we are simply rolling down our strikes with the with the market moving down We were able to kind of book that credit and roll our strikes closer to the current price In this case, we were already in February. So we just simply rolled our strikes down from the 246 251 To the 225 230 stayed in February with a lot of time 51 days to expiration So let's take a look at DIA now here. Here's something else that I wanted to point out Just looking at the chart So this was Christmas Eve here. So this was the largest drop in the market on a Christmas Eve ever, okay, so You know, it kind of a record-setting day to the downside for for a Christmas Eve, right? No, no Santa rally this time But then look what happened on the 26th the day after Christmas This was the largest one-day point move to the upside in the Dow in history Okay, so this the reason I'm pointing this out is this just goes to show you that you just you don't know What's gonna happen, right? on on Christmas Eve and you know leading up to that I mean we've had a significant drop and It almost makes you think wow, you know, this market is crashing This thing is gonna keep going down and then the very next day two days three days in a row It just rips your face off to the upside and that's why it's so important and that's why we we always talk about we're not We're not making all of our adjustments. We're not placing all of our trades Even though it's it could be warranted to do so. We're not doing that all in one day You know, we're spreading it out over multiple days multiple weeks multiple cycles And and that's why it's important to do that because you just you don't know what's gonna happen And we saw that a real clear picture that over this last week So here's where we are in DIA. So this is the one that we rolled with the alert and Since our role, I mean the market has has ripped higher So it's it's already ripped out of our range here So we're just looking for some more downside to to benefit that piece but we're keeping this on for that short Delta exposure and Here's the other piece that we have on also in February and you can see this is pretty close to where we rolled it No P no P and L profit or loss to this point on that piece So just holding those for that short Delta exposure and by the way where we're at right now with our overall short Delta is We we've got a little bit of short Delta If we don't include our oil position now I don't I'm not trying to cherry pick and exclude certain things because oil Certainly has been fairly correlated to the market as the markets move down Oils move down on days when the market bounces higher a lot of times oil is moving higher So we we don't want to exclude that, but we also want to take into consideration You know where we're at with everything. So we're actually a little bit long Delta If we include our oil if we take the oil piece out, we would be actually a little bit short Delta So I'm comfortable with where we are. We did add a little bit more short Delta today to our overall portfolio Which I'll get into on J&J You know, of course, I'd love to have more short Delta because I think there is some more risk to the downside But we also don't know that right so we're just gonna we're gonna play it We've seen a huge move down. We're getting a little bit of a bounce higher So we'll continue to add a short Delta. We're not gonna do it all in one day But as we see opportunities to do so we will continue to add some short Delta in for that downside protection So that's DIA next trade was a closing trade in Netflix so this is a short call vertical that came down on the day after Christmas and We went ahead and booked that one booked over a 50% of max profit on that piece of the trade that did take off some of our short Delta But we just thought it was a good idea to kind of you got to book those profits You don't want to get too greedy and so that ended up being a good thing as Netflix did turn around to go higher The rest of the week So in hindsight, that's always that that was a good trade And then next trade was a rolling adjusting trade in SMH the semiconductor ETF so we had a short strangle on there and We were getting down close to that 21 days to expiration at that time There's 23 days and price had breached our downside short strike So what we did is we rolled down our calls and rolled out to February So let's take a look at what that looks like if we go to SMH It's basically a straddle. So we rolled our calls down to the 85 strike We already had the 85 put rolled the whole thing out to February. So now we've got the 85 straddle in Feb the other thing I mentioned on this week's earlier video Was you know, these these strikes now they've gone to two and a half points wide but at that time they're the only options were five point wide strikes and So we were kind of limited to either the 85 or the 90 we ended up rolling up to the 85 rolling down to the 85 in that case and so you just got to kind of Play the card your dealt and and use the strikes that are available at that time So that's where we're at in SMH next trade was a closing adjusting trade in spy So we closed out our short call vertical side of our iron condor price had moved down Breach the downside break even so we closed that out Still holding that short put vertical side. So let's take a look at that if we take a look at SPY Go to our analyze tab now You can see with the last few days up move this price has moved all the way back into range And so now we are looking for a little bit more upside on that piece And then if we do get it, we'll go ahead and close that one out Book a profit on that iron condor overall Excuse me and and and continue to manage as needed now Also, we had added a another full iron condor centered around current price now you can see With the current with the recent up move now prices all the way up here kind of an upper range of that iron condor Which is fine. I mean that gives us a little bit of short delta, right? And so we're still well within range nothing to do here implied volatility has gone up since then too so We're down a little bit on the trade but still well within range So just going to continue to hold and manage that as needed Next trade was an opening adjusting trade in SPY. So that's the iron condor that I just showed we open that in February with 51 days to expiration IV percentile at the time was 99 Next trade was a rolling adjusting trade in XRT. So we rolled our strangle in XRT From January to February The calls had very little value left, you know, this is art This had already been adjusted once and so in this case we went inverted. So we've got the 41 calls 43 puts the inverted strangle and we're out in Feb So I got a couple questions on this and and this is a little bit confusing if it's your first time But you know if a market keeps moving down, you're just going to keep rolling your calls down and in this case We get where we roll it down to the point now we're inverted by just a couple strikes So we're just you know continuing to hold now prices bounce back So we've made back some money here, and we'll just continue to manage this As we always do so if if if market if this market rips higher You know, we might need to roll our puts up if it continues lower We may need to roll our calls down if it stays in our range We'll just continue to collect that theta and then end up booking a profit. So that is the name of the game there Next trade was a rolling adjusting trade in the QQQ so similar to DIA We've got a couple sets of short call verticals. These were originally part of iron condors We've continued to roll them for that short delta exposure in this case We were well over 50% of max profit on that piece of the trade. So we just went ahead and rolled that Down stayed in February with 15 days to expiration. So we did not roll out in time Just simply rolled our strikes closer went from 165 170 down to 149 154 So let's take a look at the cues So that is this one here so similar to DIA This kind of has bounced up out of our range now So just looking for a little bit of downside to get back into range And then we've also got our other piece here, which we've got a little bit of profit on and Same thing just holding this for that short delta exposure looking for some downside to benefit that piece Next trade is a closing adjusting trade in IYR. So we have This iron condor price came down and breached our downside break even so we closed out the untested side And we're still holding our put vertical side. We've also got another iron condor in IYR as well So here's the full iron condor. You can see prices well within range here It actually got down to a place where it's close it had breached our break even a little bit Excuse me gave it a little bit more time and now it's it ripped higher back into range here So we're in good shape on that one here is the short put vertical from our other piece So still looking for some upside to get back into range there as we get closer to expiration We will either you know look to close this and we probably won't roll because we don't want to extend duration on that long Delta piece, but you know, hopefully if we can get a little bit of bounce back into range might be able to close that And then continue to hold our iron condor in February Next trade was a an opening position. We opened up It was sold some premium in gold in this case I mentioned you could use iron condors or short strangles in either GLD or GC. We opted to use the futures So we're sitting with a little bit of profit here Still very centered Hasn't really moved much since we put it on up a little over a hundred bucks at this point on the trade But applied volatility look look look at the credit that we received for just one contract max profit of over $1,300 $1,350 And that just that just shows you that you know when implied volatility Get super high you just collect such a much bigger credit on these trades If we look at GLD to take a look at where the implied volatility is now Is dropping a little bit today, but right around, you know up around that hundred Area on the ivy percentile ivy rank when we put this on so I just continues to to stay nice and high across the board giving us good opportunities to sell premium And we'll look for additional opportunities into next week to to add some new positions as well Next trade was a rolling adjusting trade in eww So this was one that we had in january and we had We were to the point where over 50 of max profit But the problem was the february options were not available They did become available now. And so we went ahead and rolled that out Locked in that credit and continued to manage the trade. We kept our strikes the same just the 41 calls 42 puts So we are one strike inverted So we just went ahead and rolled that with the same strikes continued to stay inverted If we look at eww It's you know, I had that big move, which is why we had to adjust but now it's really consolidated Giving us a chance to to make back some of that. So we are We are almost we're basically pretty close to break even on the trade overall after after all adjustments And again, look at that. I mean look at that massive move and for us to have been able to get back to break even In that short period of time. I mean that just that just again It proves that the methodology the strategy of staying mechanical With your adjustments Because again, you know, I know when price is really moving like we've seen in a lot of symbols You almost think it's never going to end, right? It's just going to keep going in that direction But nothing goes in one direction forever And that's why this methodology is so powerful And the reason you have to stay small so that you can stay mechanical and make those adjustments And whether a big one directional move because eventually price is going to reverse or start to consolidate and either of those is fine And we can get back to profits if we just stay with the program and stay mechanical So that's where we're at on eww Next trade was a rolling adjusting trade in our friend natty gas So what we did is we've got two different Adjusted short strangles in natty gas in this case. We just rolled one of them out We weren't down to that 21 days to expiration We still had a decent amount of time But but the march options were to the point where they're at 60 days So getting in anywhere from 30 to 60 days is good. So just to diversify our time We went ahead and rolled one of our strangles out to march with 60 days And we adjusted our calls a little bit from uh, uh, excuse me We and and this was pointed out in the community. So this is incorrect. We did not adjust our calls We adjusted our puts from 405 to 3.7 So we're still inverted, but we opted just to adjust those puts not calls Just to get a little bit more credit. So Here's where we stand in natty gas So this is the uh, let's go back to that one This is the one we rolled. Uh, so you could see So well within range. We've actually made up of almost 500 dollars since that roll just since yesterday And so just just waiting for some more time to pass For more some more theta two decay if we take a look at the charts, I mean just crazy move I mean who had this huge massive move up price consolidate a little bit now It's reversed.  So But again the key the reason we were able to stay in this trade is because we stayed small enough To withstand these huge volatile moves And now we're just waiting for time to pass to continue to collect that theta Hopefully price plays nice and just continues to consolidate And if it does we'll roll this for a couple cycles and be back in the money The other piece that we have is the four strike straddle And so on this one we could actually use a little bit of up movement And we're gonna we're gonna look to roll this one out as we get closer to 21 days to expiration We may even do it next week. Here's the here's the game plan prices right here And if we get a decent move up And you know more towards the center and and we you know get some more profit back in this one Then we'll probably roll before that 21 days If it just kind of hangs out here, we may just kind of Wait and and see what happens. Obviously if it continues moving down, we may need to Roll our calls down collect some more credit and then roll out in time. So We'll just see what happens Obviously optimal would be for price to move a little bit higher And then we would roll that out continue to collect that credit continue to play that time decay game in natty gas Next trade was an opening trade in j and j we did this one this morning on friday And this was just to add some short delta into our portfolio In a in a previous video. I think it was I think it was last week We mentioned, you know some some different symbols. We were looking at to add short delta J and j just looks like you can I had had that big move down. It's kind of bounced higher The last few days and so just looking for an entry point to get a potential continuation to the downside And so that's what we're looking for in j and j. So we just sold a short call vertical here We could for some downside movement in the stock to benefit that trade Next trade was an opening adjusting trade in wheat so for slash z w and what we did here is With these back-to-back alerts here. We opened a new Wheat iron condor out in march with 56 days to expiration And then we were over 40 of max profit On our february one that had 28 days. So we went ahead and booked that one So book that one open a new one in the next cycle So if we take a look at wheat Here's the one that zeroed out. That's the one we closed So let me just uncheck those and then this is the one we've got so pretty dead centered We just put that on this morning and so just going to continue to wait to see if we can get some Consolidation in price and if so, we'll go ahead and book this one at the normal 30 to 40 of max profit We're pretty close to even on our wheat trade overall We've been in this a while just kind of battling this back and forth But I don't I don't mind that because it's just giving us that exposure to to a commodity that's not correlated to stocks Or bonds or net gas or oil. It's just another exposure outside of those So I like having at least one grain on Basically at all times in this case. We're just continuing to hang on to our wheat position And add and book profits add to book profits until we get back and and so that's what we're doing there So those are all the alerts. Let's take a look at some of our other positions here oil We've got these two pieces on our 54 56 and prices is right here So just looking for some more upside and oil to benefit that um What a move on the 26 right the market was up had its biggest day up and oil was up Over 10 percent that day Which was I mean great for our position, but big big move there too So we can just get a little bit of a bounce higher here and kind of consolidate in this range. That would be ideal Obviously the market always doesn't do what you want it to so if it does continue lower We will continue to play the game by rolling our calls down If we take a look at at how much value is left in our calls. You can see we got we got quite a bit so Um, not not looking to make any adjustments at this point Also, we've got 48 days left in that march cycle. So a lot of time left So just really playing the waiting game here in oil And then our other piece is the 53 call 63 and a half put We can see kind of a similar story. I mean price is hanging out down here Just could use some upside movement to benefit that oil trade Yes, we've got this long put vertical that we've got on for short delta exposure I've got some profit here just looking for some more downside to benefit that I mentioned gold. I mentioned natty gas bonds We've got a short strangle on here just playing the waiting game here looking for some more Theta to the k some iv contraction in bonds I mentioned wheat. We've got apple. We've got this long put vertical here for that short delta exposure So I'm just looking for some more downside and apple to benefit that DIA EWW EWZ We've got a short strangle on here pretty close to where we put it on dead centered in our strangle So just playing the waiting game there In facebook, we've got a short strangle on here. We're in the profit on this trade Just looking for some more time to pass some more theta to decay before we book this one Uh, if we look at the charts here Yeah, the the earnings announcement date isn't hasn't even come out yet So we've got some time here. So hopefully price can kind of Consolidate between now and then and I'd love to be out before the earnings announcement But we'll see what happens. We may hold it through depending on where we're at. We'll just have to see Fxi the Chinese a large cap ETF. We've got two butterflies on here Here is our one in February and this is our put butterfly You can see prices well within range here And this is one we put on after price kind of broke out of the range on our call butterfly So just looking for some upside movement in this one on our January fly IWM We've got two pieces here kind of similar to SPY We've got price that came down and breached our break even so we took off the untested side We took off the call vertical side still holding this put vertical Looking for a little bit of upside to benefit that if it moves back up into range to a point And we can book a profit on that we will if not We'll just kind of hold this for now if it moves too much lower You know, if we get to a point where it has a very low probability of getting back in a range We may just close it out But we'll see what happens and then our other full iron condor we've got in February in IWM You can see it's dead center. Just waiting for some more time to pass there IYR I mentioned J&J Lulu Our good friends Lulu lemon Excuse me Just looking for some downside to benefit that this is one we put on for some short delta exposure We were at a point where we are at or near 50% of max profit. We opted to hold it Just to keep some of that short delta exposure on Obviously in hindsight, we wish we would have booked it I think some of you mentioned in the community that you did go ahead and book that so good job on that But we're just you know, if we get a continuation to the downside, we'll be good here QQQ I mentioned SMH SPY XLK Also another short delta position we've got on you can see price is still within range here Just looking for some downside to benefit that And then I mentioned XRT so those are all the alerts. Those are all the positions Hope everybody has a great weekend. Look forward to a full week of trading next week. Have a great one everybody


Fy nechyd, rwy'n gwybod i'r 19 ymddangos cymaint 10 o gyflawnio gyda'r Cymru yn 2015, ydych chi'n gweithio yn gyllewch yn cyflawni amgylchau cymaint ac elachol o moddau'r cyd-gweithiau o'r cyflwyniad yng Nghymru, ac mae'r cyflwyno i'r cyflwyno i'r cyd-gweithiau ymddangos i'r cyflwyno i'r cyllewch 1. I'm inviting you to agree to consider items 4, consideration of witnesses in relation to the Community Justice Scotland Bill and 5, consideration of the evidence received on the inquiries into fatal accidents and sudden death Scotland Bill in private. Are you agreed? Thank you. We now move to stage 2 proceedings on the Prisoner's Control Release Scotland Bill. I welcome Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Officials for this item. Philip Blamant, Head of Criminal Law and Sentencing Unit and Fraser Goff, Parliamentary Council Office. Members should have their copies of the Bill, the martial list and groupings amendments beside you. You also have a correction slip to the martial list and that is on amendment 3. It's nothing enormous. It's simply that the word act is repeated. If you look at it, it refers to the section 1 of the Prisoner's Control Release Scotland Act 1993 act. That's all it is. Nothing. No great dynamite there. I just start away and I'll call amendment 1 and name the Cabinet Secretary group with amendments 1, 2, 3 and 4. Cabinet Secretary, please to move amendment 1 and speak to all the amendments in the group. Good morning, convener. Amendment 1 provides for the expansion of the policy so that the current entitlement to automatic early release at the two-thirds point of sentence is ended for all future long-term prisoners. This is in response to the comments made during stage 1. That was not clear why a differentiation was being made between six offenders and non-six offenders in the bill on introduction. We consider our amendment as an appropriate response to the issues that were raised at stage 1. Amendment 1 also provides for a minimum six-month period of licence condition supervision for all long-term prisoners leaving custody. During stage 1 scrutiny, it was suggested that an unintended consequence of ending the entitlement to automatic early release for certain prisoners was that some prisoners would serve their entire sentence in prison and then leave custody with no licence conditions in place to help supervise them in the community. This issue is commonly referred to as cold release. We discussed this at some length last week and it's important to stress that the need for the operation of a mandatory period of licence condition supervision will apply to a limited proportion of long-term prisoners only. This is because many long-term prisoners will continue to receive pro-bord early release or will have an extended sentence in place. For example, we know that nearly half of six offenders long-term prisoners and approximately one-fifth of other long-term prisoners have an extended sentence. We also know a significant portion of long-term prisoners, especially non-sex offenders, receive discretionary release. For these prisoners, a period of supervision will always operate upon release from custody through the imposition of licence conditions. However, long-term prisoners not in this position will be subject to this period of six months licence condition supervision. It's important to explain what this means for sentences. A sentence will contain a period of time that must be served in custody at the start of the sentence. This will be half the sentence. A period of time that must be served under supervision in the community at the end of the sentence. This will be the last six months. And a period in the middle of the sentence from the halfway point to the last six months that will be served either in custody or under supervision in the community if the prisoner is given parole early release. This is, in essence, a custodial and supervisory sentence. We are clear that the mandatory period of supervision should be part of a long-term prisoner's sentence. This will ensure that there is effective enforcement of the conditions of the mandatory supervision period, which will include the ability to recall a prisoner to custody. As with the current system, it will be for the parole board to determine what the licence conditions should be. Various views have been expressed about what length the minimum supervision period should be. As I have explained, the minimum supervision period will only affect a limited portion of long-term prisoners, with supervision lasting much longer for many long-term prisoners with an extended sentence and those receiving discretionary early release. Keeping this in mind, we consider that the length of mandatory supervision should be six months. Members will be aware that a considerable amount of work goes on inside prisons to plan for the release of prisoners. For long-term prisoners, this includes criminal justice social work being directly involved inside prison to consider needs as a long-term prisoner becomes eligible for consideration of release. This work looks at ensuring that the prisoner is ready as they can be for release, including considering matters such as housing, welfare and work needs, given that these are key to successful reintegration into the community. All of this work is focused on the individual prisoner's needs at that particular point and is done in prison ahead of release. We think that the minimum period of supervision necessary for a prisoner serving close to four years, as compared to a prisoner leaving after, say, eight years in custody, is likely to be similar. Given both a long period of time to be incarcerated and keeping in mind the additional preparatory work which is done in prison before release for all long-term prisoners. We do not support amendment 1A from Elaine Murray, which would set the supervision period at 12.5%. We do not consider someone serving, say, an eight-year sentence should have supervision that lasts twice as long as someone with a four-year sentence. That would be the effect of Elaine Murray's amendment. We have considered the evidence presented during stage one, which highlighted that it is the initial six to twelve weeks following release that are generally most crucial for individual prisoners. It is during these first weeks and months after leaving custody that prisoners have to re-establish themselves into communities, and this is when challenges around housing and getting a job will often be most acute. It is therefore at this point that a mandatory supervision period would be most appropriate. The Scottish Government considers that a period of six months strikes an appropriate balance so that mandatory supervision is in place for the crucial first few weeks and months following a long period of incarceration, but on the other hand does not leave licence conditions hanging over a prisoner too long as they leave custody and seek to reintegrate into the community. By the end of the six months, we consider prisoners who have had a sufficient opportunity to lay down routes back into the community and have established housing, welfare and work under close statutory supervision. It is important to stress that non-statutory support will continue once the six months have elapsed with community reintegration links laid down. We consider that where a prisoner is assessed as being dangerous that they should remain in custody as far as possible into their sentence before a period of supervision in the community operates. On this basis, we do not support Elaine Murray's amendment 1A, and we would ask the committee to support amendment 1. If approved, amendment 1 will mean that automatic early release is ended for all future long-term prisoners with an extended sentence and restricted to the last six months of sentence for those without an extended sentence. Amendment 2 operates in tandem with amendment 1 as introduced, the bill would have left it to subordinate legislation to make provision about how the reforms to the early release system affect existing prisoners. The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee expressed concern about the adequacy of the opportunity that would give members to scrutinise the important issue of how the reforms would affect prisoners serving sentences at the time of commencement. Amendment 1 would therefore make clear that the reforms do not affect prisoners already serving sentences when the new regime comes into force. Amendment 2 removes the power for ministers to include savings and transitional provisions in subordinate legislation as the job will have been done if amendment 1 is approved. I am pleased that, at its meeting last week, the Delegated Powers Committee welcomed what the Government had done in this respect. Amendment 3 is a minor amendment that allows for the commencement order to add in the specific date provision where it is brought into force so that it appears in the relevant section of the 1993 act. This should aid understanding of users of the 1993 act. Amendment 4 is a minor change to the long title of the bill. I move amendment 1. Thank you very much. Elaine Murray placed to move amendment 1A and speak to all the other amendments in the group. Thank you. Thank you convener. I move amendment 1A, which I have introduced after the evidence session that we had last week with Professors Tata McNeill, both of whom felt that six months was insufficient in terms of a supervisory service sentence for people who had served long-term sentences. Bear in mind that the prisoner who is made the defendant who is served served an eight-year sentence at the end of that sentence. That person who would be serving six months has been assessed as being too risky by the parole board to be released prior to that. And it would seem to me to be disproportionate for that person only to be supervised under licence in the community for a period of six months. Particularly the longer sentence where a prisoner may be more institutionalised, have gone through programmes or maybe not have gone through programmes, maybe have rejected some of the support that they have been offered in prison to only have that short a period. The professors actually argued that the supervisory part of the sentence should be at least 25 per cent. I haven't gone as far as to suggest 25 per cent. The 12.5 per cent I have suggested is not particularly evidence-based. It's really on the lines that I believe that you must have had some evidence that you thought six months was appropriate for somebody who'd served a four-year sentence. So that would allow somebody serving a four-year sentence to have the final six months under supervision in the community, but for it to increase proportionately as the sentence length gets longer. Reflecting perhaps the institutionalisation of prisoners, the fact that somebody who is serving a long sentence has probably committed a more serious crime and requires more effort in rehabilitation, and taking into account the fact that, because that person has not been released in parole, they are probably a particularly risky prisoner and requires a longer period of supervision in the community. As I say, I've put this here for discussion. I am pleased that the Cabinet Secretary used the term custodial supervisory sentences. We need to change the terminology on sentences. We are not talking about automatic early release, but we are talking about sentences that have two parts. In both the Cabinet Secretary's amendment and my amendment to that, we are recognising that we need to take a more sophisticated attitude towards sentencing. I would also say that, in terms of the stage 1 report, when the Justice Committee made our recommendation, I think that we were thinking that there would be a proportional element that would reflect the length of time somebody had served and the severity of the offence that they had committed, which I think a blanket six months doesn't actually do. Thank you. Other members? I've got John, then I've got Roddy, then I've got Margaret, then I've got Christian, then I've got Gil. Thank you. Elaine's comment there about a blanket doesn't serve individuals as I actually go along with, I agree. Cabinet Secretary, if I noted you correctly, you talked about the criminal justice social work activity within prisons, and if I noted you correctly again, you talked about individual prisoners' needs. You've also said about the initial six-week period being the most testing period. You'll be familiar with the discussions of our last week and my use of the term risk assessment perhaps, how that would relate to an individual, and it's long established that to treat people equally doesn't mean you need to treat them the same. For instance, that six weeks will be far more compelling for someone who doesn't have housing than someone perhaps who served a long-term period who does have housing and a more stable background to go to. I'm reassured when you say that there'll be non-statutory support will continue after the six months, but what reassurance can you give me? Because the trouble I have, whether it's with the six months you propose or any other version, is that it doesn't appear to take account of individual needs, which will vary. So what reassurance can you give me that assessed needs of someone released from prison will be met if we agree that's a six-month period, please? I think that the important point to remember is that there are other prisoners other than the prisoners who will be affected by this bill. The prisoners who have been sentenced to a period of extended supervision at the time of the original imprisonment are set by the court and indeed also all the prisoners who will have the opportunity of trying to obtain discretionary release from the parole board. So I think one thing that's slightly overlooked is the possibility that this new legislation will provide an incentive to people to try and cooperate and to try and obtain discretionary release, except that there will still be people that fall through the net and don't qualify for discretionary release. I listen carefully to what Elaine said. I respect the intellectual argument she's making and indeed that of the distinguished academics, but I simply don't accept the argument that the longer you've been in prison the longer you need to be supervised in the outside world. I agree that the period following release ought to be provided with a sort of proactive support in relation to accommodation, employment, education and benefits that Dr Barry talked about when she gave evidence on 13 January, but I don't think these are things that need to have a proportionate timetable. It was Colin McConnell, chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service, who said in evidence that the first six to 12 weeks after release can be extremely risky as people try to establish links and support in community space. That was accepted by the Cabinet Secretary. Even Fergus McNeill last week said that the Cabinet Secretary was absolutely right that the first six weeks to three months are the critical period for establishing the basics for successful resettlement when reintegration must be achieved. Although of course it's also fair to say that earlier in February he'd said that for public safety reasons and for reasons to do with the right of reintegration, it's critical that the system combines custodial sentences with post-release support. I accept what the Cabinet Secretary has said in terms of the terminology of this bill. I also accept that there is an argument that individuals may become more institutionalised the longer they're incarcerated in prison, but I don't somehow think it should lead to a proportionate timetable. Also I bear in mind that the plans of the Scottish Prison Service are to increase mentoring of prisoners approaching release and of an increase in the number of third through care officers to 42. We heard evidence from Eric Mutch on that point and these will be particularly targeted at offenders serving sentences of four years plus. So all of these factors together with the Cabinet Secretary's comments on the continuation of non-statutory support after six months in climbing to the view that the Cabinet Secretary has got the balance about right. Next one is Margaret, please. Good morning. You've made quite a point in an emphasis of the fact that this will only affect a small amount of prisoners' minister, but given these are some of the most difficult prisoners, other than hopefully thinking that maybe this will be an incentive for them to engage all of a sudden. What does your provision do that the original provisions didn't do at two thirds release? It doesn't abolish automatic early release. It arguably leads for more risk in the community for difficult and potentially dangerous prisoners to be less supervised for a smaller length of time. And also there seems to be the question of a possible challenge from HR for these prisoners are not being given the opportunity to provide their, not a risk for the community, a sufficient time to do that. Six months while it covers that initial period that we're told is the most frequent time when there are breaches, does manage to look at housing, to maybe look at employment, but it doesn't mitigate the risk that can still be there and I think it would be dangerous to underestimate that. So I'm genuinely minister puzzled as to what the bill actually does achieve. I'll give you the opportunity to come back with them all at the summing up. I've now got Christian, if you wish, but I think it's probably the better way to do it. Is that correct? Do you want to answer that? I'll try my best to cover as many of the issues as I can. We know you try your best, not your worst. Christian, next please. Thanks very much, convener. Just to come into the... I know that the Cabinet Secretary talked about the cold release, but there is another point which may be not talked about as well, why this military pair came into force. It was the evidence that we received, which said that there is increasing numbers of prisoners opting to max out the sentences. That's a very important point. It's not only that the six-month period is not only to stop cold release, but it's as well that new things that we didn't know about, this maxing out of sentences of prisoners, has to be addressed. And I think the amendment just addressed that. What does the Cabinet Secretary bring in front of a just address this? Regarding the period, I'm pleased to hear that it's not evident base. It's difficult to have evident base for the 12.5% or 25%. Where I come from, I was quite happy to see the Scottish Association for the Care and Resetment of Offenders. Sacro talked about the three months, because to me three months is what we talked about, the first weeks and the first month, which are the most important. So I was quite happy with three months, but I'm happy to go with the Cabinet Secretary extending it to six months. To my mind, again I agree with John Finnie when he talked about proportionality. Proportionality is not so much the amount of sentences that you'd be given, but it should be more individual based. I was quite happy with three months, but it would be quite happy with six months for a long-term prisoner. Let's not forget it's not only all long-term prisoners, but it's only the one who have not having the discretionary early release, who have not having extending sentences under supervision. So I'm quite... Maybe the Cabinet Secretary can reflect on what John Finnie is proposing. I wouldn't think that he should be in the face of the bill, but maybe having an individual approach, making understanding that it's not about proportionality or the length of sentences, but the quality of the work done in the six months should be really about the individual more than anything else. Thank you. Gil? Thank you very much. Can I speak on Elaine Murray's amendment 1A? I see this as another form of automatic early release. It's just simply changed the parameters. And if you take... It's measured by the time served, and if you take a five-year sentence, if my calculation is right, it equates to 142 days early release, and then if you go to 14 years, it's 398 days early release. So it seems to me that, effectively, the most dangerous people get the most benefit in terms of being serving a shorter sentence, and that seems to be kind of wrong in my view. To be quite honest, we either want to end early release or we don't, and I think this is just another form of it. For that reason, I wouldn't be supporting it. Alison. I too want to speak to amendment 1A. Certainly in our stage 1 report, we spoke about the need further to be a mandatory period of supervision, and I was grateful to the minister to listen to that and came back with a suggestion of three months. All that we spoke about round about the stage 1 report was should it be three months, should it be six months, should it be a year. The issue of proportionality and the way that Elaine is addressing really only arose last week when we took some evidence and granted was vociferous evidence, but the figure of 12.5% seems to have been plucked from the air. Elaine New yourself said this morning that it's not particularly evidence-based, and therefore on that basis it's really quite hard to support it. You haven't addressed the additional cost of a longer period of supervision, so I'm not sure about the impact of that. I'm aware that SHRC have expressed concerns about long, unduly long periods of licence supervision and talked about the restrictive nature of that and the interference with public life and the need for it to be proportionate. We've heard from other people that the time on licence is a very stressful time and that we should just be proportionate about that, so I think on the basis that it's not particularly being well evidence then I can't support the amendment. Yes, I would very much support Alison that has just said because I think the key word was used as 12.5%. I appreciate it as not evidence-based and the evidence that we had was six to 12 weeks was required, and that was the danger time for people being released. This is to do with rehabilitation and supervision. It's a period that is required to do that. It's not a proportion of the sentence that's given, and if the evidence that we had said that six to 12 weeks is the danger zone, I think six months satisfies that on the evidence that we've had. My issue with yours as you said yourself is you've got this figure as you say, plot from the air, we had no evidence on 12.5% therefore I can't support it, I'm afraid. Now I move to a busy speaking I forgot to do next. Cabinet secretary to wind up first of all on your amendment 1 and if you wish of course to comment on the other relation to 1A. Thank you, and I'm grateful to the members for their comments on this matter, some of which we discussed at previous settings of the committee in considering this issue, I was conscious that in the course of Elaine Murray's contribution that the witnesses received last week will be neither satisfied with my proposal or our own proposal in this matter given the position which they've taken on the issue of automatic early release. So I do recognise their view in this matter but I'm also conscious of the other evidence which the committee has received and that is that that crucial period of the six to 12 week period when a prisoner is released back into the community as being the critical time in helping to reintegrate and to re-establish a prisoner back into the community. Also in your earlier evidence you heard from SACRO where it was a period of three months that they thought was a reasonable period of time in which to undertake that work to those who thought it should be six, nine or possibly as long as a year. So there is a variety of views out there on what is the most appropriate length of time and we have tried to strike a balance based upon the evidence which the committee has heard over the course of the stage one consideration of this bill. Can I turn to some of the specific points which have been raised and I think John Finnie raised a very important point in that it was much more about the quality rather than the quantity of the time at that period of supervision it takes place. I think that that's absolutely key in order to help to secure the reintegration of prisoners back into community. That's why we have the ministerial group that I chair on reintegration of prisoners which is looking at how we can improve the joined up nature of what goes on in prison within our communities as well in order to build those bridges much more effectively. That's around housing, it's around welfare, it's around employment and as committee members will be aware there are a range of measures that can be taken for long term prisoners before they move into the community. For example, some of them may be granted at release in order to start employment opportunities. Some of them can move to the open estate if that is viewed as being the most appropriate way in which to manage their move towards being released from the prison estate back into the community in order to reintegrate them. I think that it's important in considering the timeframe at the end of the sentence that this is part of what is also the work that has been taking place within prison and where that particular prisoner may actually be given the assessment that is made of their particular needs at that given time. That's why that individual approach is extremely important and why the Scottish Prison Service is now placing so much emphasis on the through care officers who have that type of responsibility in building up the picture of what's needed for the individual prisoner in order to put those building blocks in place in order to manage their offending behaviour and to move back into the community much more effectively. However, there is more we can do in that than the ministerial group that I chair is very much focused on how we can achieve that more effectively in going forward. Some of the pilot work that I've mentioned previously to the committee around housing and creating those links is all about achieving exactly that type of approach. I will say the time that Margaret Mitchell's points should not entirely sure what my amendment does, the bill doesn't do. Clearly what my amendment does is creates that statutory period of community supervision because of the crucial period from the evidence that you've heard about that 60-12 week period about making sure there is a mandatory period of supervision there to manage those prisoners into the community. What you heard from a range of stakeholders was the risks associated with cold release. Prisoners who would be released back into the community would know period of mandatory supervision and what the bill seeks to do is to make sure that there is that period of mandatory community supervision so that if there are concerns, if the person does find themselves in a situation where they are struggling, is that there is a structure in place in order to address that. That in my view is about trying to manage a risk much more effectively. If there is a risk to the community the risk is that there is no support there for that individual and that they may end up committing another offence. I would prefer to be in a position where we were providing the right type of support in order to minimise that potential risk within the community and that's why it's extremely important I believe that we have that minimum period based on the evidence that you have heard from a range of stakeholders at the end of a prisoner's sentence in order to support them and reintegrate them back into the community and as I've mentioned we believe that reasonable period of time in order to get that right and to provide the right quality of support is that six month period. Thank you cabinet secretary. Elaine Murray to wind up amendment 1A press or withdrawal. First I will address the point that Gil Paterson made which says that it would end automatic early release if you want to look at it from that angle neither my amendment nor the cabinet secretary's amendment actually end automatic early release because somebody would be automatically released six months before the end of the sentence or 12.5% before the end of the sentence so if you want to look at it in that way neither of them does that but my suggestion is that we move away from that sort of interpretation we look at the balance between the custodial sentence and the community part of a sentence in terms of what produces the best results I heard what John Finnie was saying about assessments around individual needs the only problem I think with that is that if somebody rejects the assessment somebody may be assessed who gets out only six months before the end of a long sentence and if they reject the requirement for additional support thereafter at the end of the six months there is nothing compelling them they are compelled for that six months to accept the assistance but they are not compelled thereafter so if somebody does need a longer period it does not actually guarantee that they will get a longer period of support in terms of the 12.5% as I said that figure I used in order to stimulate debate I selected it because it equated to six months at four years and I presume that the cabinet secretary had some evidence that he felt was the appropriate period of time at four years so it was chosen on that basis although as he said the professors who came to speak to us last week would be satisfied with neither sets of amendments because they were arguing for at least 25% which would to be honest not be terribly different to the situation which we are at at the moment I think they made some other points which go beyond the scope of this bill to be considered I am content not to press the amendment at this stage having listened to what colleagues have said I will consider it and hopefully in the period before we have stage 3 there will be the opportunity to receive other evidence from other stakeholders which may inform any amendment which I brought forward at stage 3 but I'm quite happy not to press it at this stage You wish to withdraw Does any member object no member object the question is therefore that amendment 1 be agreed to are we all agreed there will be a division those in favour please show those against please show abstentions 8 4 none against one abstention the amendment is agreed to the question is that section 1 be agreed to are we all agreed the question is that section 2 be agreed to are we all agreed I call amendment 5 so on market please to move and speak to that amendment Thank you convener, our move amendment is being my name Despite the cabinet secretary's valiant attends to try and justify the evidence this bill on the evidence that we heard from stage 1 and also on the supplementary evidence following the Scottish Government stage 2 amendments really only confirm that it isn't it for purpose the policy memorandum states that the bill ends the system of automatic release for certain prisoners in the interests of protecting public safety but the government proposed changes at stage 2 do not end automatic early release hence the change to the long title proposed which will now refer to amending the rules as to automatic early release for long term prisoners so the cabinet secretary amendment merely replace automatic early release at the two thirds point of a sentence with automatic early release at six months before completion of that sentence this has proportionality implications which in turn may well lead to a potential HR challenge the government has not made the case as to why it rejected the proportionate approach I don't think they've made that case adequately at all the six to eight weeks yes that is the key area for re-offending up to six months allows that prisoner to be resettled to look at housing, to look at benefits but it doesn't agends a potential risk to the public from what could be a very difficult prisoner being released at that point nor does the bill even after being amended provide clarity in sentencing for the public or improve public safety given all of this it's hard to work out what the government is attempting to achieve with the introduction of this bill the inevitable conclusion is that this was bad legislation to begin with and that the Scottish Government's attempt to address stakeholders extensive and legitimate criticisms at stage to have muddied the waters further and made things worse Furthermore, given the extremely narrow scope of the prisoner control of release Scotland bill it's quite simply not possible to alter it in an attempt to ensure that it does become fit for purpose that poses I contend an insurmountable problem for us as a scrutiny committee which is why I have lodged this probing amendment which seeks to delay and is probing at this stage the commencement I noticed people are laughing at that so maybe I shouldn't have a probing amendment maybe I'll just consider it once we've heard the reports because this is far too serious to be dealt with flippantly Mr Campbell I don't think I think it's unfair I think if we just proceed on Margaret we're doing a good job but it seeks to delay the commencement of section 1 until the day after the Criminal Justice Scotland Act 2015 receives royal assent. This would provide the committee and the cabinet secretary with breathing space to look at the criminal justice system in the round including short term sentencing, early release and associated recidivism rates. It would crucially also provide the opportunity for the thoughtful, helpful and constructive suggestions proposed by Professor Tata and McNeill and Dr Barry which have been sent to the committee following the professor's pertinent and forensic criticisms of the bill when they gave evidence last Wednesday to be taken into account and properly considered The issue of automatic early release which is confusing for the public and vexing for victims of crimes and their families is far too important to tinker with rather than giving it the consideration it deserves to get it absolutely right. I look forward to the cabinet secretary's response Margaret any other members which too Elaine and Rod Yes, I appreciate some of Margaret's concerns which certainly are reflecting some of the evidence that we had however there's two things I think really sure about. I'm not quite sure how I know that the amendments were originally supposed to be amendments to the criminal justice bill but I'm not sure that the rest of the criminal justice bill interacts in any particular way with this bill which means that this bill can't come into effect until that bill has come into effect because this was to certainly add on to that bill so I'm not sure how delaying implantation would actually be required or is required in terms of that bill. The other thing is if there are issues about which we are so concerned about this bill I don't see how they can be addressed in the criminal justice bill or anything very much that we could do about them through the passage of that bill. They made some of the issues brought to us by the professors and so on I think are probably for reflection on in future legislation rather than in the criminal justice bill that would impact us in the autumn so I'm grateful to Margaret for bringing this to us so that we can reflect on it but I'm not convinced that that delay is required in terms of the passage of this bill. Roder. Have anything to add beyond what Elaine has said actually about the points in relation to delay? Why I'm supportive is because we've really tackled what was a huge issue for us was called release and that really was the key in doing this is that we have management of rehab and supervision within the context of the prison but more importantly that that transition continues out into the community and I think for me that deals with what legitimately raised about risk of really long-term prisoners well that's at least now there's a six month period when they must, it's mandatory the supervision and rehabilitation in that supportive period so I think that this is something that I don't want to see delayed Anyone else? Right, I'm now going to call John sorry John. It's just a reflection for Margaret I certainly don't support her amendment but I do support the scrutiny role that this committee undertakes and I think for the reasons that the convener said we have seen movement not all the time but the consensual way we've got to the point where we have where we have seen movement from the Scottish Government I think we commend the Government on that and I think commend this committee for its work if indeed we can commend ourselves if you want to meet me You go and commend yourself John as you don't get everything that you want in life we're already feeling sorry for you get an extra muffin Cabinet, Gil which is very appropriate and I wouldn't like any delays the idea that someone presently get released in a day that they can't get any services is just madness and so this is an excellent part a tidying up exercise should be done a lot more and lots of people I'm coming back to you we're coming back to you when you sum up sorry, yes? Thanks very much and I don't blame you for that but you know there's a lot of people in really poor circumstances that need help will benefit from this simple straightforward part of the bill Thank you very much, no Margaret you get to sum up so now goes the Cabinet Secretary then I come back to you Margaret Cabinet Secretary I've listened carefully to what Margaret Mitchell has said about amendment 5 as to why she seeks to delay the commencement of these important reforms approval of the criminal justice bill and royal assent being received for that particular bill at present there is no provisions contained within the criminal justice bill relating to early release and we do not see any reason for delaying commencement of this bill in a manner that would result from amendment 5 being agreed to it is appropriate that any stage 2 amendments to the criminal justice bill should be considered by the committee during the bill stage 2 process amending this bill to tie it into future legislation would be to preempt Parliament's consideration of the criminal justice bill and I don't believe that that's appropriate it is worth noting that Margaret Mitchell's amendments to the criminal justice bill will provide for a system of cold release and long-term prisoners this is of course precisely what members of the committee have just voted against in any event Parliament will have the chance to consider Margaret Mitchell's amendments when stage 2 of the criminal justice bill takes place and while I've listened to what Margaret Mitchell has said to say in this matter we do not consider that it is good there is any good justification for delaying this important piece of legislation and the contents of this bill until after the royal scent of the criminal justice bill and on that basis I would ask the committee to redact amendment 5 Margaret Mitchell The point of information that I wanted to make was that section 2 under my mention still goes ahead so I thought it was something that was explaining exactly what the amendment was. I think it's a bit of a confusion about what's being proposed here it's a breathing space it's a breathing space in what has been a very tight scrutiny period to turn the bill upside down which was bad to begin with which has been improved slightly but still isn't fit for purpose and as a scrutiny committee I'm dealing with one of the most important issues in the criminal justice system I think it is sensible and reasonable that we could consider taking advantage of that period of time to look at not least the very significant evidence that was presented last week by the academics and the two professors who brought up very relevant forms so I firmly believe and you know as for my amendment in the criminal justice bill they'll be tested could be probing amendment could be looking at how it goes I think it's quite wrong to fixate on that what I do think it's important is that I allow this time up until and during the consideration of that bill to look at where we're going with this bill so I firmly believe that that's the best way forward to delay commencement of section one to ensure the best possible outcome from scrutiny of the criminal justice bill not least to ensure that the period of mandatory supervised release in the community community is sufficient and properly thought through to address the practicalities and that's housing benefits employment things that aren't addressed and I have to say I don't have a great amount of confidence will be in the future and through care on past experience and that these are actually adequately resourced to ensure the essential criminal justice social work is in place and supported by a level of surveillance using all the modern technology available in accordance with the assessment of risk these are important bits important bits of the jigsaw which I think we should have time to consider to get this bill right I won't press my amendment today because it is to air these and it's to hope that genuinely the cabinet secretary has a good track track record to date on listening to concerns about legislation and proposals championed by his predecessor will reflect on the advantage of delaying commencement of section 1 and support this amendment a later stage you seek to withdraw my agreement does anyone object there's no objection and I'll call amendment 2 in the name of the cabinet secretary I already debated amendment 1 cabinet secretary to move formally the question is amendment 2 be agreed to are we all agreed not agreed right there will be sorry I'm moving too fast to the market so amendment 2 the question is amendment 2 be agreed to are we all agreed there will be a division those in favour please show those against please show abstentions 8, 4 not against 1 abstention that amendment is agreed to call amendment 3 in the name of the cabinet secretary I already debated amendment 1 cabinet secretary to move formally the question is amendment 3 be agreed to are we all agreed I heard out there it's not agreed there will be a division those in favour please show those against please show abstentions 8, 4 not against 1 abstention that amendment is therefore agreed to the question is section 3 be agreed to are we all agreed call amendment 4 in the name of the cabinet secretary I already debated amendment 1 cabinet secretary to move formally the question is amendment 4 be agreed to are we all agreed not agreed there will therefore be a division those in favour please show those against please show abstentions 8, 4 not against 1 abstention that amendment is therefore agreed to the question is that long title be agreed to that end stage 2 consideration of the bill thank you very much cabinet secretary your official is pretending today thank you I'll suspend for a couple of minutes thank you now move on to item 3 Scotland's national action plan for human rights members are aware that John Finnie is a rapporteur on the SNAP plan on human rights and today John will update us on his latest meeting Professor Alan Miller chair of the Scottish human rights commission John I invite you to update the committee please I don't know the extent to which you wish me to go into that the paper has been I can make some general comments first of all very grateful to Professor Alan Miller who is a very busy man not just in respect of human rights in Scotland but as you know in the European and indeed international stage where he holds various positions we discussed the Scotland's national action plan which is the focus of a lot of the work there some of the items 5 there you'll notice that culture is featured and the phrase innovations forums to identify opportunities to empower people to understand and use their rights and I know from engagement with some groups that historically people haven't seen human rights as being particularly relevant to them but in a variety of fields so for instance health and social care and issues around welfare and care homes and the right to dignity simple things like levels of hydration these are fundamental human rights the justice system we heard last week the statement in historic child abuse and clearly the Scottish human rights commission have been involved in that and as you know our regular respondents to calls for evidence from this committee there's also been involved with the police service who contribute to the Scotland's national action plan and people will be aware that the human rights commission have engaged on issues like human rights training at the Scottish police college and I think it's fair to record that there's been discussions on some of the issues around for instance stop and search and questions of proportionality and I think it's good that they can Scottish human rights commission can be seen as honest brokers in the scheme of things and people are very willing to engage with them planning for a disability summit in 2015 in the publication of a draft report and driverly plan is another issue that was discussed I provided some information on the work of the committee and the justice subcommittee on policing excuse me and these included issues are like human trafficking and the fatal accident inquiries and the scrutiny role that the committees provide and I certainly said that on behalf of the committee I'd be very happy to keep in touch with Professor Miller on the issue of any emerging issues and I think it's fair to record that one of these emerging issues regardless of where it sits at the moment is the difference between the position in the rest of the UK and Scotland regarding human rights and the discussion and debate that's to be had around that so I'm very happy to answer any specific questions come here I know if Dungavel falls within the SNAP action plan but obviously I raised the issue and part of other members have raised the issue about the failure to allow welfare to go in and check on the condition of people detained there who are after all not criminals and indeed the trade unions, STUC and others does that something falls within your discussions with Professor Miller does he any remit there seems to me while technically of course Dungavel is UK in a detention on Scottish soil yes indeed I think it's fair to say that we didn't discuss that particular issue but I'm happy to engage with Professor Miller on that because clearly as you say historically there's been issues about particularly children and young people that could dealt with if I recall through the previous children's commissioner that children are not detained there now yes indeed there at Yarlswood as I understand but of course only last week we saw a raid there where there was children involved with the UK border agency so I'm happy to discuss what role of any there is talking about the adults because children are not detained at Dungavel anymore that we dealt a blow to that I think yes indeed through the previous children's commissioner who really took this on board now as she succeeded there I'm wondering why notwithstanding the institution within Scotland the human rights the human rights Professor Miller commissioner can't deal the same thing for adults you know on the principle that it was prevented previously even just to let people in to see the welfare of the detainees yes indeed I visited there in the past and I've written and asked to visit again and I've been told that that's inappropriate so I mean I can certainly speak about that and also the equality in human rights commission who are the UK body as well so I mean I'm happy to pick up on that I don't know if other members share my concerns about that, people detain they're not even going to see how their welfare is or they have no time for me we've just dealt with control of release of prisoners these people don't even know when they're going to either be accepted within the community or sent back I mean it seems to me just isn't human are you content that this is raised in human rights okay okay the other thing I wanted to ask just something I wanted to ask is nobody put their name forward was I'm very interested in the case studies I dispute with you now that people aren't aware of human rights I think they've become increasingly aware of their human rights now, the public and I'm interested in the case studies is this the health committee that's dealing with that under the pilot projects yes indeed it is to go to the health committee do we know anything else about it what it's dealing with do we know what these case studies are there was no specific information on that but I understand it's imminent because it is as you see it's due this month that they are to go to the health committee quite interested to see how people if it's the way they're treated in hospital and so on don't know I'd like to know more about that so maybe if we could I'll certainly do that and report back was it Roddy you wanted in? yeah now just to clarification on justice of victims of historic child abuse with the appointment of Susan O'Brien last week are you able to comment in any way of SHRC's involvement or otherwise in this issue well the appointment was subsequent to me meeting with Professor Miller however I think there was an awareness that was going to be an announcement and of course the Scottish Human Rights Commission acted as go between indeed did sterling work getting people who had been in conflict around a table to discuss issues and how to take things forward so I'm sure there'll be further updates from and again I can come back to the committee with that that would be helpful to me Elaine? I'm actually a convener for a dispute with John Finnie that people don't know about their human rights because actually I don't know that people are really aware of what their human rights are what human rights is actually about people reading the papers is about offenders and all sorts of people they might consider to be undesirable folk and then maybe don't realise what human rights actually means for everybody and so I think that sees the innovation forms particularly if there are discussions at the UK level about repealing the human rights act I think it's extremely important that people are made aware of the whole gamut of human rights and how actually it benefits all of us to be more aware of their human rights not everybody is but certainly my inbox quite a lot of people are aware of human rights sorry John I think it's an issue in it it's not a party-politic issue it's an issue about the growing diversity of views whilst it's been promoted very positively and picked up by the Scottish Government the Scottish National indeed on a cross-party basis there is some negative PR about the whole concept Jane Just to get back to the issue about health and social care I can remember what was told to yesterday about the incidence of mental health issues and the problems that police face in dealing with that but so if health and social care is going to be a pilot project I would like mental health to be a specific of that and it's not just hospitals it's about community-based services and the integration board in particular what they're doing so more specifically about mental health than just the broad herring of health Again Professor Merle didn't go into detail about this because it is exclusively for the health committee but I can confirm that I would be very surprised at mental health which quite often features in terms of rights issues weren't part of it but I can confirm that and come back to committee Let me just clarify the case studies that we consider by the Parliament these have not been set up yet Am I correct? No, no to be considered by the health committee this month So I think we could perhaps just make a comment or if you make a comment on our behalf that we want mental health to be included in it I think that would be something Okay Christian? Culture that is a series of innovation forums to identify opportunities to empower people to understand and use their rights Do we know if any of those innovation will talk about what this committee is doing particularly talking about nobody should be ignorant of the law but to a certain extent a lot of people who just said only this country will have big problem to understand what their rights are Will that come under this programme of innovation forums? Can we know more about this innovation forums? Well the particular example cited was from the north of Ireland and indeed it was regarding housing regeneration in Belfast where the community was empowered to make decisions and they fed that information into an event which occurred in Glasgow to coincide with World Human Rights Day in December last year and it is picking up on community empowerment issues and it is picking up on the point that Elaine made there about people having an awareness of how rights can be used to support decision making and how they should be embedded into policy decisions Will that be said understanding the law as well when you are right under the justice system? I personally raised at the police sub-committee the issue of that information being made available by the police because I think it is in the police interest for people to understand the rights and I commended a booklet that was issued in the police force I was in many many years ago and I think we were assured by the assistant chief constable that that is information that would be made available online to encourage young people particularly pertinent with regard to stop and search and individuals knowing their rights and settlements but I would certainly support a wider teaching of human rights because too often they are seen by the establishment as being threats rather than something that we all have an opportunity to benefit from if you can come back to us and let us know the new vision for us I just note also that SNAP are observing training programmes on human rights issues at the police college for a start now maybe it's your wee book It would be nice if it was the wee book Can I thank you for that now it's a very interesting discussion and I now move into private session