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August 23, 2008
IT'S THE 2003 CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT, STUPID.
Prison reform has been hastily implemented, underfunded and has left record numbers behind bars, MPs said in a scathing report.
The Commons justice committee found Labour's flagship criminal justice reforms had been a "significant contributor" to prison overcrowding.
"We urge the government to address sentencing policy in a more considered and systematic way and to reconsider the merits of this trend," the cross-party committee of MPs said.
The Criminal Justice Act 2003 was the centerpiece of government plans for delivering clear, consistent sentencing. But MPs said the act had "fallen short of its aims".
The committee blamed a desire to appear tough on crime and a failure to inject sufficient resources into community punishments for a rise in short jail terms, which they said could lead to increased reoffending.
"There is a contradiction in stating that prison should be reserved for serious and dangerous offenders while not providing the resources necessary to fund more appropriate options for other offenders who then end up back in prison," the committee's Liberal Democrat chair, Alan Beith, said.
"Short custodial sentences are very unlikely to contribute to an offender's rehabilitation; in fact, short custodial sentences may increase re-offending."
Vulnerable groups such as women, young people and the mentally ill were found to be particularly susceptible to being imprisoned even though "their needs could be dealt with both more effectively and more appropriately in the community".
The MPs also criticised a "deeply unimpressive" review of sentencing by Labour peer Lord Carter that they said was based on "wholly inadequate" consultation.
But Carter's report was "a missed opportunity for a fundamental consideration of problems with sentencing and provision of custodial and non-custodial facilities in England and Wales", the MPs found.
Link to full report:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmjust/184/18402.htm#evidence
Posted by Hampshire at August 23, 2008 12:21 PM