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19/08/2011
Riots Swell Prison Population
The recent riots have resulted in the prison population increased by 100 inmates a day.
Figures due to be released today are expected to show that the total number of prisoners in England and Wales has risen to 86,608, leaving around 1,200 spare places in the prison system.
Nearly 1,300 have passed through the courts as a result of the recent disorder, which broke out in London, before spreading to other cities including Manchester and Birmingham, and it is understood that more than two-thirds of those charged have been refused bail.
Many campaigners are arguing that some of the sentences that have been handed down so far have been too harsh. Earlier this week, two men received four year sentences at Chester Crown Court for posting messages on social network site Facebook to incite riots. Both men are expected to appeal the sentences.
Andrew Neilson, Director of Campaigns for the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "While it is understandable that the courts have been asked to treat the public disturbances as an aggravating factor, this should be balanced against a key principle of criminal justice, that of proportionality.
"The dangers is that some of these sentences are disproportionate and indeed devalue our response to more serious crimes.
"Clearly people have committed serious offences and prison sentences shall be handed out. But more generally, we have doubled our prison population since the mid-1990s and seen tougher and tougher measures introduced each year, with an abundance of criminal justice legislation.
"Yet despite all this, the outcome of being 'tough on crime' was some of the worst street disturbances seen in decades. That alone tells us that the answers to our problems do not lie within the criminal justice system."
(KMcA/GK)
Figures due to be released today are expected to show that the total number of prisoners in England and Wales has risen to 86,608, leaving around 1,200 spare places in the prison system.
Nearly 1,300 have passed through the courts as a result of the recent disorder, which broke out in London, before spreading to other cities including Manchester and Birmingham, and it is understood that more than two-thirds of those charged have been refused bail.
Many campaigners are arguing that some of the sentences that have been handed down so far have been too harsh. Earlier this week, two men received four year sentences at Chester Crown Court for posting messages on social network site Facebook to incite riots. Both men are expected to appeal the sentences.
Andrew Neilson, Director of Campaigns for the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "While it is understandable that the courts have been asked to treat the public disturbances as an aggravating factor, this should be balanced against a key principle of criminal justice, that of proportionality.
"The dangers is that some of these sentences are disproportionate and indeed devalue our response to more serious crimes.
"Clearly people have committed serious offences and prison sentences shall be handed out. But more generally, we have doubled our prison population since the mid-1990s and seen tougher and tougher measures introduced each year, with an abundance of criminal justice legislation.
"Yet despite all this, the outcome of being 'tough on crime' was some of the worst street disturbances seen in decades. That alone tells us that the answers to our problems do not lie within the criminal justice system."
(KMcA/GK)
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Prison Reform Groups 'Must Focus On Victims' Needs'
Prison reform campaigners must focus on the needs of the victims, rather than offenders, the Justice Secretary has said today, in an attack of the "criminal justice lobby". In a speech on prison policy to the Royal Society of Arts, Jack Straw is to call for a rebalancing of criminal justice priorities to give victims a stronger voice.
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