The government published a Green Paper on plans for a 'radical reform' of the criminal justice system to punish criminals more effectively and reduce reoffending. Proposals included:
• Making offenders submit to the discipline of regular working hours in prison, more demanding tasks in the community, and greater use of curfew requirements.
• Increasing reparation to victims through greater use of restorative justice.
• Diverting more offenders with mental health or drug problems into treatment programmes.
• Introducing payment-by-results so that independent providers would be rewarded for reducing reoffending.
• Simplifying the sentencing framework by giving judges greater discretionary powers and restricting the use of indeterminate sentences.
• Giving local people a more central role in the criminal justice system.
Source: Breaking the Cycle: Effective punishment, rehabilitation and sentencing of offenders, Cm 7972, Ministry of Justice/TSO
Links: Green Paper | Hansard | Evidence report | Impact assessment | Equality impact assessment | MOJ press release | Conservative Party press release | Addaction press release | Bar Council press release | CBI press release | Childrens Society press release | Church of England press release | CMH press release | DrugScope press release | JUSTICE press release | PRT press release | Rethink press release | Turning Point press release | YJB press release | Morning Star report | Law Gazette report | Community Care report | Guardian report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Dec
A report said that victims and witnesses had been marginalized in relation to the sentencing process, and that there was still a long way to go to remedy this situation. Only 16 per cent of victims felt that their views on how a crime affected them were taken into account by the court.
Source: Victims' Justice? What victims and witnesses really want from sentencing, Victim Support
Links: Report | Victim Support press release
Date: 2010-Nov
Researchers examined the experience for offenders in Scotland of doing a short sentence, in prison or the community. For many people short prison sentences had became a regular life activity, and the constant coming and going between community and prison interrupted the ability to deal with drug and alcohol issues, strengthen family relationships, and became employable.
Source: Sarah Armstrong and Beth Weaver, User Views of Punishment: The comparative experience of short term prison sentences and community-based punishments, Research Report 4, Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research
Links: Report | Summary | Glasgow University press release | BBC report
Date: 2010-Nov
A think-tank report said that community sentences were failing to properly penalize or deter offenders, and did not command public trust.
Source: Robert Kaye, Fitting the Crime: Reforming community sentences – Mending the weak link in the sentencing chain, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | BBC report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Nov
A study examined public attitudes in England and Wales towards sentencing for murder. There was no evidence of overwhelming or widespread public support for automatically sending all convicted murderers to life imprisonment. People perceived significant variations in the seriousness of different murder scenarios. Support for the life sentence increased in relation to the seriousness of the crime.
Source: Barry Mitchell and Julian Roberts, Public Opinion and Sentencing for Murder: An empirical investigation of public knowledge and attitudes in England and Wales, Nuffield Foundation
Links: Report | Nuffield Foundation press release | Coventry University press release | BBC report | Telegraph report | Law Gazette report
Date: 2010-Oct
A think-tank report said that community sentences did not help to prevent reoffending, and that the government's aim of cutting expenditure on prisons could only be achieved by ignoring the impact on victims of crime.
Source: Ken Pease, Prison, Community Sentencing and Crime, Civitas
Links: Report | Civitas press release | BBC report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Aug
A report called for an urgent review of the social and financial costs and benefits of the indeterminate sentence of 'imprisonment for public protection' (IPP). It said that the IPP had been poorly planned and implemented; that projections about levels of use of the IPP had been inadequate and, as a consequence, the resources required to implement the sentence were far too limited; and that the ability to predict the risk posed by those convicted of violent and sexual offences had been overestimated.
Source: Jessica Jacobson and Mike Hough, Unjust Deserts: Imprisonment for public protection, Prison Reform Trust
Links: Report | Sainsbury Centre press release | Children & Young People Now report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jul
The Scottish Parliament approved the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill. A Scottish Sentencing Council would be established to ensure greater transparency and consistency in the sentencing process. There would be a presumption against short sentences of three months or less in order to end the 'revolving door' of reoffending.
Source: Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Government/Stationery Office | Scottish Parliament Debate 30 June 2010, columns 27815-27995, Official Report/TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Policy memorandum | Official Report | Scottish Government press release
Date: 2010-Jun
A joint inspectorate report said that the wide scope of indeterminate sentences meant that there would continue to be a 'huge number' of prisoners that neither the probation service nor the prison system had the capacity to handle effectively.
Source: Indeterminate Sentences for Public Protection, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales/HM Chief Inspector of Probation
Links: Report | Community Care report | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Mar