Sentencing shift

THAT more prisons are to operate under a “payment by results” system is pivotal to deterring reoffending, the single biggest issue facing lawmakers. New figures show repeat offenders commit 500,000 crimes a year and the Government recognises that offenders should use their incarceration to learn skills which enable them to stay on the right side of the law.

This comes as Ken Clarke, the Justice Secretary, overhauls sentencing policy with a set of proposals aimed at restoring public confidence and improving transparency. For once, the three key planks appear to be driven by common sense – mandatory life sentences being extended from murder to other crimes and moves to jail 16 and 17-year-olds for knife crime, though it is unclear whether this “get tough” approach extends to younger offenders.

Mr Clarke intends to abolish the indeterminate sentence for serious offences that Labour introduced, and which saw 6,000 offenders sent to jail without any release date. While some will inevitably accuse the Minister of releasing serious offenders into the community, a notion which runs contrary to the thrust of his reforms, it will make the criminal justice system more transparent – victims perceive an “indeterminate” punishment to be a life sentence when it is nothing of the sort.

Their pain is then compounded when the assailant is freed after a relatively short period of time. Yet, as Mr Clarke attempted to explain his proposals, it was still unclear how long offenders will stay in prison for some offences.

While he talked about judges having discretion, time spent on remand or good behaviour can still foreshorten prison terms.

Perhaps judges should be instructed to jail criminals for a “minimum” time duration. It would help victims, the most important people here, to better understand the vagaries of the judicial process.