News from the New Party

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Protecting the public (2)

Not so long ago people used to say that John Reid was "a safe pair of hands". We now have a situation whereby sentencing of criminals is being determined not by the potential danger to the public or the severity of the offence, but by the capacity of our prisons.

The Home Secretary has asked judges and magistrates to jail only the most dangerous and persistent offences, as the prison population hovers around the capacity of 80,000. He has also warned that non-violent and less dangerous prisoners nearing the end of their sentences may well be released early in order to free up space within the system, pending the availability of 8,000 "new prison places", which as Daniel Finkelstein helpfully reminds us today, are mostly temporary places anyway.

It is of course outrageous that the judicial system should be put under pressure to imprison offenders or not simply on the basis of whether or not there is a prison place available. The fact that matters have reached this point is yet another indication of the wholesale incompetence of the Home Office. If there is a need for a change to sentencing policy, we cannot accept that the starting point of the discussion should be how many people we have the capacity to imprison. There should be no question of artificially seeking to reduce the prison population any more than we should expect government artificially to expand the prison population to capacity.

A thorough review of sentencing is called for across the board. There should in any case be no justification for the imprisonment of offenders whose offences are minor and non-violent, and more use should be made of fixed penalties for such offences. In addition, the New Party recommends a points system similar to that currently used for motoring offences, which would award "points" for certain convictions, with the accumulation of a certain number of points resulting in a custodial sentence. This system would doubtless keep out of prison many offenders who would currently be jailed.

On the other hand, it is wrong to release prisoners who remain a danger to the public. The New Party favours risk assessment ahead of the release of long-term violent prisoners, with an option actually to extend sentences where necessary. At all times the guiding principle should be that the public should be protected; rehabilitation of offenders is of great importance also, and the New Party supports all efforts to educate and rehabilitate prisoners, and to support them after their release. Nevertheless, the primary goal of imprisonment is to protect the public - and artificial barriers such as current prison capacity should not be allowed to get in the way of this. If that means building more prisons, then so be it.

News from the New Party

News Highlights

News Archive

Protecting the public (2)