More serious offenders face life

27 October 2011 Last updated at 04:09 ET

The proposals include automatic prison terms for 16 and 17-year-olds who threaten others with knives

The government has set out plans for mandatory life sentences for crimes other than murder.

Under a “two strikes” approach anyone convicted of a second serious sexual or violent crime in England and Wales would get an automatic life sentence.

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said the plan was for “ultra serious criminals”, and added: “It is a big step and I didn’t take it lightly”.

Currently, only those convicted of murder face a mandatory life term.

“We’ve got 6,000 people languishing in prison, 3,000 of whom have gone beyond the tariff set by the judge and we haven’t the faintest idea when, if ever, they are going to get out,” Mr Clarke told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“It’s a gross injustice a bit of a stain on our system.

“I’m going back to long, firm, mandatory sentences.”

Justice campaigners said they were concerned about the proposals, which come a day after Mr Clarke told MPs that judges should have discretion over sentencing.

He added that mandatory sentences were not the British way and led to a game in which judges would look for any excuse not to hand down the set terms.

Mr Clarke also announced mandatory custodial sentences for 16 and 17-year-olds who threaten others with knives. Convicted teenagers would face a four-month detention and training order under the plans.

Announcing the surprise move on Wednesday night, Mr Clarke said: “We have already announced that we are bringing in an automatic prison sentence for any adults who use a knife to threaten and endanger.

“Clearly any extension of this sentence to children requires very careful consideration.

“However, we need to send out a clear message about the seriousness of juvenile knife crime, so we are proposing to extend a suitable equivalent sentence to 16 and 17-year-olds, but not to nger children.”

Ministry of Justice figures suggest between 200 and 400 teenagers aged 16 and 17 could be jailed every year for using a weapon to threaten others.

Frances Crooke, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said she was “very worried” by the proposals for mandatory life terms for crimes other than murder.

“We have nearly 12,000 life sentence prisoners – that’s more than Russia, Poland, German and France all added together,” she said.

“We are using the mandatory life sentence and discretionary life sentences like confetti already and it is causing huge problems in the prisons.”

Barry Mizen, whose 16-year-old son Jimmy was stabbed to death in south London three years ago, said: “I seriously believe the only real change will come through the education system.

“There has to be discretion. We can’t have a ng person who is so frightened of people and then takes some sort of weapon and is then incarcerated with the very people they are frightened (of).”

‘Clear signal’

These latest moves to combat knife crime, which will be included in the Justice Bill when it is debated by MPs in the Commons next week, come after Mr Clarke held talks with Conservative backbencher Nick de Bois.

He had demanded the government extend a new mandatory custodial sentence for knife crime to under-18s, and said he was “very pleased” with the government’s decision to change the law as he suggested.

Mr de Bois added: “It sends a very clear signal that in the th justice courts, for the first time, it’s beyond doubt ’ll go to jail if use a knife in this fashion.”

Further changes to the sentencing regime in courts include:

• Extending the category of the most serious sexual and violent offences to include child sex offences, terrorism offences and “causing or allowing the death of a child” so that the new provisions will apply to them.
• The Extended Determinate Sentence (EDS) – all dangerous criminals convicted of serious sexual and violent crimes will be imprisoned for at least two-thirds of their sentence, ending the regime which allowed the release of these offenders at the halfway stage.
• Offenders convicted of the most serious sexual and violent crimes in this category will not be released before the end of their sentence without parole board approval.
• Extended licence period – criminals who complete an EDS must then serve extended licence periods where they will be closely monitored and returned to prison if necessary.
• Courts have the power to give up to an extra five years of licence for violent offenders and eight years for sexual offenders on top of their prison sentence.

Parliament debate

Mr Clarke said the new proposals would “restore clarity, coherence and common sense to sentencing, rid us of the inconsistent and confusing IPP [Imprisonment for Public Protection] regime and give victims a clearer understanding of how long offenders will actually serve in prison”.

Labour’s shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said the plan “does not address the problem of unreformed offenders who have completed their sentence being released to commit crime and inflict harm on the public”.

He added: “Under this government’s plans, offenders who are a danger to the public could still be released from prison. They are taking an unnecessary risk with public safety.”

But he welcomed the moves over knife crime, having previously called for mandatory custodial sentences for threatening anyone with a knife to be extended to those under 18.

All the new measures will be debated in the House of Commons next week and, if passed, will be added to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill which is currently going through Parliament.

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