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Government ministers are rethinking criminal justice in England and Wales, looking for ways to increase penalties for the most serious crimes, while reducing them for less serious offences. The shake-up, which aims to get non-hardened criminals to turn themselves around, will cost the taxpayer around £500 million if it goes ahead.

The new white paper from the government suggests increasing the use of deferred sentences. Here, courts offer the offender a period of time – often around six months – to improve their behaviour and turn their lives around. If the individual is successful, they may be able to avoid a custodial sentence, thereby reducing pressure on the prison system. 

The white paper also goes on to detail plans for longer sentences for more serious crimes. Murderers, rapists, and those convicted of violent assault will spend more time in jail, potentially increasing the prison population long-term. There may also be an increase in the issue of whole life orders – prison sentences without the right to parole – and Soviet-style GPS tracking for serial burglars. 

However, in promoting deferred sentences, ministers still want to keep conventional prison sentences in place as a deterrent. Criminals who do not mend their ways risk spending long periods behind bars under the new plans. 

The white paper is also calling for courts to make more use of deferred sentences, something that criminal defence lawyer, Peter Maatouk, has been arguing for on behalf of his clients for some time. 

There were a range of additional interesting suggestions in the white paper aimed at making the criminal justice system fairer and more aligned with the public’s values. These include: 

• Longer periods before prisoners serving life sentences will become eligible for parole
• More severe sentences for murderers aged 15 to 17
• Ending the policy whereby prisoners serving between four and seven years are able to end their custodial term halfway through their sentence. Going forward, ministers suggest that they must serve at least two-thirds of their sentence before release
• Reduction in the age for whole life orders from 21 to 18
• Whole life orders should be a starting point for people who kill children
• Launching a new awareness campaign and national call for action concerning how to treat autistic and ADHD criminals
• Increased use of GPS tracking
• Turning some courts into problem-solving centres, designed to help repeat offenders work through their issues and avoid criminality in the future
• Reducing the time period offenders have to declare their offences to their employers

Overall, the white paper seems like a relaxation of criminal law punishments. However, while ministeres are giving with one hand, they are taking away with another. 

The cost of the new approach is likely to be more than £500 million. Furthermore, it may lead to an increase in the prison population of more than 600 by the year 2028. However, government ministers have plans to increase the number of available prison places by 10,000 between now and then. 

Social justice campaigners argue that increasing the prison population will only put further pressures on the system.