Prisoners' Release
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to ensure that (a) violent offenders and (b) people convicted of grievous bodily harm resulting in life-changing injuries are not inappropriately released early under existing early release schemes; and what review mechanisms are in place to assess whether the charge classification accurately reflects the severity of the offending behaviour in such cases.
Answered by Sir Nicholas Dakin
This Government was left an unconscionable inheritance with the prison system days from collapse. To prevent the risk of gridlock across the Criminal Justice System, we had no choice but to take decisive actions to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.
We changed the release point for certain standard determinate sentences from 50% to 40% (‘SDS40’) and increased the maximum Home Detention Curfew period from 6 months to 12 months. Both of these policies have extensive exclusion criteria, including sexual offences irrespective of sentence length and certain serious violent offences.
Harm caused is one of the two core factors always taken into account when sentencing. The Crown Prosecution Service is responsible for bringing the right charge in all serious cases and there are established mechanisms for appealing unduly lenient sentences.
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