'Let burglars stay free if damage is minimal' call

Community punishments should be the starting point for judges considering lower level offences, according to advice from the Sentencing Advisory Panel.

The panel also said drug and alcohol addicts who would otherwise be jailed for burglary should be handed community punishments if they showed they were trying break their addiction.

The guidelines state: "Even if an immediate custodial sentence would otherwise be warranted, in an attempt to break the cycle of addiction and offending it may sometimes be appropriate to impose a community order..."

Under the proposed sentencing guidelines, the starting point for the lowest level of offence would be a community sentence.

For more serious crimes, where the burglar used violence or stole treasured possessions, the average sentence should be a year in prison, and for the most serious offences two years.

The panel gives advice to the Sentencing Guidelines Council, which is chaired by Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice.

From next month both bodies will be abolished and replaced by a Sentencing Council which will set rules for judges on appropriate punishments.

Last year Lord Judge ordered the courts to hand out tougher terms to burglars, saying homes should be our "safest refuge".

Rejecting appeals against jail terms for a group of burglars, he said the courts should recognise the trauma caused to the victim.

Of the 23,651 burglars jailed in 2008, about 40 per cent were given immediate jail terms. Nearly 10,000 were handed community punishments.0