Blair criticises 'distant' criminal justice system

Prime Minister Tony Blair has criticised the justice system, which he claimed was in need of "profound rebalancing" in favour of victims.

Speaking at the Let's Talk meeting, where he launched Labour's consultation on public service reform, Mr Blair said that the criminal justice system is "the public service most distant from what people want".

Mr Blair said that he believed people wanted "a society without prejudice, but with rules" and said: "The truth is most people believe that we don't live in such a society today."

The Prime Minister said that there should not be "continual legal battles to deport people committing serious crimes or inciting extremism" and said that violent or drug-abusing offenders should not be put back out on the street again without proper supervision.

The Prime Minister's comments follow a series of controversies over law and order, including the release of foreign prisoners without being considered for deportation and a row over the human rights of convicted criminals over the safety of the public, following a report on a dangerous offender who strangled and stabbed a woman after being released on license.

Following the Cabinet reshuffle earlier this month, the Prime Minister has written to four Cabinet Ministers detailing key challenges for their departments. Home Secretary John Reid and Constitutional Affairs Secretary Lord Falconer were among those who received letters.

Mr Reid was instructed to institute a improved framework for the management of offenders, which would ensure that the criminals justice system was "shaped around targeting the offender and not just the offence, in order to enhance public protection and ensure that the law-abiding majority can live without fear."

Lord Falconer was ordered to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the courts by "focussing on how to bring about speedy, simple, summary justice" as well as devise a strategy which "maintains the effectiveness of the Human Rights Act and improves the public's confidence in the legislation".

However, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Nick Clegg said: "Tony Blair has presided over a wholesale degeneration in our criminal justice system.

"We have grotesquely overcrowded prisons, a probation service demoralised by government interference, reoffending rates amongst the highest in the western world and conviction rates for serious crimes, such as rape, as low as 1%.

"Who does Mr Blair think he's kidding when he now claims he is the man to restore confidence in our criminal justice system, after such a lamentable nine year record?"

(KMcA)