Sentencing rules to be overhauled

Proposals to simplify sentencing and better protect the public were unveiled today by the Home Secretary.

The proposed measures aim to strengthen judges' power to deal with dangerous offenders and improve the public understanding of the sentencing process.

Home Secretary John Reid said: "The measures we are putting forward today are designed to ensure the public are better protected from dangerous offenders and that resources are targeted at those offenders who pose the most significant risks.

"It is vital the public, and especially victims, have confidence in sentences, and understand that dangerous, sexual and violent offenders won't be walking the streets in a couple years. We need to find ways to increase public understanding of how sentences are calculated and the consequences for the offender.

"Courts should be rigorous in applying their powers to protect society against dangerous and violent criminals. That is why we need to strengthen judges' hands so they have greater discretion to impose even tougher sentences on offenders they believe pose a very serious risk."

Following the Craig Sweeney case the Home Secretary had pledged to review the Home Office rules for tariff reductions for entering an early guilty plea.

Sweeney, 24, who was found guilty of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a child, had been told that under the rules he would receive a one third reduction in his life sentence, meaning that he could be released after serving five years.

Among the options put out for consultation today are:

• making sentences easier for the public to understand
• giving judges more discretion to calculate and more clearly express how long dangerous offenders will spend in prison
• making it possible for some prisoners who present a serious risk to the public, with fixed sentences to be held in prison beyond the automatic halfway release point
• giving offender managers the power to deal with a breach of a community order without having to go back to a court
• reducing demands on probation resources so that probation officers can spend more time supervising more serious offenders.

In addition to today's proposals, the Sentencing Guidelines Council is undertaking a review of whether judges should have greater discretion in the discount they give to offenders who plead guilty, especially when they have been caught red-handed.

(SP/KMcA)