Manifesto > Moral Purpose: Valuing families, rebuilding communities (Introduction) | Families and Children | Policing and Criminal Justice | Population and Migration | Rural Communities

Moral Purpose: Valuing families, rebuilding communities

Policing and Criminal Justice

Endless promises of more and more police, longer sentences and tough crackdowns make good newspaper copy but do not deal with the reality of crime and policing.  We seek to tackle some of the underlying problems that we face today.

Crime levels are certainly unacceptably high, with less than a quarter of all recorded crimes being solved and many crimes going unreported. Street crime is rising fast and more than one million violent crimes are reported to the police each year.

Despite these depressing statistics, endlessly increasing the size of the police force and building new prisons is not the answer. Unless we tackle the root causes of crime our law enforcement agencies will be constantly engaged in fire-fighting.

Although we propose measures to boost police and courtroom efficiency, we would put much more emphasis on reducing the causes of crime. Our taxation policies would reward families who stay together, our education policies would help those who are not being taught properly and our rehabilitation policies would help reduce re-offending.

We advocate setting the police free from unnecessary bureaucracy so that they are able to spend more time within the community. We would bring forward measures to break the link between drugs and crime and we will provide more effective treatment to help addicts. We would introduce measures to help in the detection of crime and we would provide a simple penalty points system for petty offences. For those who are convicted, we propose expanding education and skills training; and for those convicted of violent crimes, their release date would be dependent on their ability to re-enter society safely.

We have the police officers we need, but they must be used more effectively

The greatest deterrent to crime is not the nature of the sentence but the fear of being caught. However, criminals know only too well that the odds are stacked in their favour due to the heavy burden on the law enforcement sector. An early priority will be to dismantle unnecessary bureaucratic procedures and to bring in more civilian staff to support police officers in routine and procedural duties. Releasing police officers from excessive bureaucracy and paperwork will also provide a much needed boost to their morale and we will also provide incentives for them to delay their retirement.

We propose a range of measures to help with the detection of crime and the gathering of evidence. The ongoing extension of the DNA database will help, but we will oppose any compulsory registration scheme for the general population. We would simplify rules on phone tapping and interception of mail and permit these as evidence in court.

We would not introduce ID cards but we will establish a national identity bureau with the ability to cross-reference existing passport, driving licence, national insurance and other data where it is absolutely necessary to establish an individual's identity.  Access to such data would be strictly limited and information will be processed only by personnel who have been security screened.

Speed up prosecutions and close legal loopholes

Our legal system provides various levels of appeal and the possibility of cases being reopened and reviewed.  We would increase the discretion of courts to accept evidence which may have suffered from minor procedural irregularities during the collection process. We would also provide additional resources for the prosecution services.

Stopping the time-wasters

We would introduce measures to reduce the abuse of court proceedings by both prosecution and defence teams.  Poor preparation, lack of witness protection and deliberate stalling have caused many trials to collapse. Previous convictions would be disclosed at start of trial for habitual offenders, to deter spurious pleas of not guilty, and prosecution witnesses would be given much better protection.

Penalty points for low-level offences

At present many offenders escape justice because of the vast amount of bureaucracy required to prosecute them through the courts. We believe that there is much more to be gained than lost by empowering police officers to deal with these matters simply and quietly. For minor and petty offences we would introduce a system of fixed penalty points similar to driving licence endorsements. Individuals would pay fines and/or lose benefit based on the accumulated points and the collection of too many points could lead to community service.

However, the objective is to warn rather than to punish, and the penalty points system would give low level offenders an incentive to modify their behaviour.

Penalty points would expire after a set period of time, thus only persistent offenders would face the more serious penalties.

Prisoners should not be released if they still pose a risk …

Custodial sentences must retain a deterrent element and the early release of prisoners must not be routine. However, the actual time served should be tailored to individual offenders and be linked to their ability to re-enter society safely and responsibly. To those who are prepared to make the effort to recover their lives we should offer hope and the tools to succeed. The release of offenders imprisoned for violent and serious offences should be subject to a comprehensive risk assessment. Those who continue to pose a serious threat to public safety should have their sentences extended or be monitored under special measures.

… but time spent in prison should be constructive

We need to ensure that prison provides a structured and purposeful environment with the maximum opportunity for offenders to reform. It is an inescapable fact that most criminals are a product of their upbringing, parental example and peer pressure as 65% of prison inmates are less than 30 years old and illiterate. All illiterate and semi-literate prisoners should be given a basic education and we should ensure that skills training for all the major trades is made available. We would segregate young offenders from hardened criminals at all times.

… and offenders should go back into mainstream society on release

Prisoners are at greatest risk of re-offending on their release. We must therefore do as much as possible to give them the ability to live normally in mainstream society and not be tempted or driven to re-offend. We would provide employer grants to give retrained convicts more opportunities and we will help them to find suitable accommodation.

Fire-fighting is not the answer

We must break the circle of crime using all possible means. However, we firmly believe that the most effective way to reduce crime is to ensure that as many young people as possible leave school sufficiently well educated, trained and motivated to make a success of their lives.

Crime and drugs

Drug abuse generates a huge amount of criminal activity and its poisonous influence extends deep into family life. Downgrading cannabis has not been a success. The police have had their job made even more difficult and there is evidence that a growing number of people are experiencing mental problems as a result.

Until such time as we can educate people away from using drugs altogether, we would seek to cut drug-related crime by removing registered addicts from the clutches of criminals by giving them a prescription supply and by getting them onto abstinence-based rehabilitation programmes.

We propose setting up a powerful drug enforcement agency to focus on dealers in hard drugs. It would be equipped with enhanced asset-seizing powers. Anyone convicted of supplying drugs with a street value in excess of one hundred thousand pounds would receive an automatic life sentence. The proceeds of asset seizures would be used to fund intelligence gathering and rehabilitation programmes. Drug awareness courses should be an essential component of all school curricula and reformed addicts should be brought in to warn young people about the problems they will face if they use drugs.

We would also bring forward legislation to enable young children whose health, education or mental welfare is being damaged by drug addicted parents to be placed for adoption. 

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