A presumption against short sentences

The Bill introduces a presumption that prison sentences of a year or less will be replaced with “tougher sentences in the community that better punish offenders and stop them reoffending”. The official press release notes that currently, 62 percent of those receiving a prison sentence of under 12 months reoffended within a year, which is higher than similar offenders given sentences in the community.

Offenders who pose a significant risk of harm to an individual or who have breached a court order – including breach of a previous suspended sentence order – will be exempt from this change, meaning judges will “always have the power to send dangerous offenders or prolific law breakers to prison”. 

Much of the press release focuses on the way in which community sentences will be “toughened up” via a number of new powers including:

• unishments that restrict offenders’ freedom in the community. Judges will be handed new powers to bar criminals from pubs, concerts and sports matches, curtailing offenders’ freedoms as punishment. 
• Tough unpaid work orders that force offenders to give back to society. Develop new ways in which offenders can undertake tough, unpaid work. This includes working with local authorities to determine how offenders could give back to their communities, whether by removing graffiti or cleaning up rubbish. Publishing the names and photos of those subject to an unpaid work requirement will demonstrate to the public that justice is being delivered and increase the visibility and transparency of community payback. (An alternative interpretation would be that this practice will massively increase stigma and make it very hard for people to find or keep employment.)
• Financial penalties that force offenders to pay back for their crimes. Work to deliver new “income reduction orders” which will see judges able to order offenders to forfeit some of their income as a form of punishment during their sentence.

The Government has already announced that it will be expanding the use of intensive supervision courts. 

Earned progression

The primary purpose of the Bill is to try to get our prison population under control. Another key element of this strategy  (already announced) is the introduction of a new “earned progression model” that will see prisoners who break the rules spend longer than the minimum of 33 or 50 percent in prison, ending automatic release for badly behaved offenders.

This “earned progression model” will apply to prisoners serving standard determinate sentences only. Some offenders on standard determinate sentences will spend at least one-third of their sentence behind bars. Those serving standard determinate sentences for more serious offences will serve at least half in prison. Dangerous offenders will be unaffected with those serving extended determinate sentences or life sentences continuing to spend as much time behind bars as they do now.  

Again, the press release focuses on how tough this new earned progression system will be:

“To enforce this, the Government is toughening the prison punishment regime, so prisoners face up to three months extra in jail for violence or being found with illicit items like phones. Multiple incidents will see punishments added consecutively with constantly violent prisoners potentially spending their whole sentence behind bars as a result.” 

Tagging

The Government is also introducing, for the first time, a presumption that all prison leavers will be tagged on release as part of intensive supervision with the Probation Service keeping a closer eye on offenders’ behaviour. This means, unless Probation Staff specifically decide not to, any offender leaving prison will be tagged. The Government says it will invest another £100m in tagging to enable this.

Deportation

The Bill also contains further provision to see foreign national offenders deported immediately after sentencing.

Resourcing

The Government acknowledges that for most of  these provisions to come into meaningful effect, it will have to greatly increase the numbers of probation officers. It has promised to invest up to an extra £700m in the probation service between now and 2028/29. We must wait and see whether this investment enables the recruitment of sufficient numbers of new staff to supervise the new tougher community sentences.