UK government introduces sentencing reform bill – JURIST

The UK government introduced on Tuesday reforms under the Sentencing Bill to crackdown on violent offenders and reinforce victim protection. The reform bill is a part of Sunak’s government’s ongoing crackdown on violent offenses in the UK.

The bill aims to see rapists serve their full court-sentenced prison time. On the other hand, the bill aims to move low-risk offenders out and away from continuous short-term jail sentences—what the government called a “merry-go-around of short prison terms.” Instead of short-term jail sentences, the bill seeks to expand the use of Home Detention Curfew (HDC), which is when an offender is restricted to a certain location but not kept in a detention facility. Notably, the reforms for low-risk offenders will not apply to stalkers, abusers and repeat offenders.

Secretary of State for Justice Alex Chalk stated that beyond sentencing reforms, the new bill aims to give the police more powers in dealing with complex crimes, like online child sexual exploitation, grooming gangs and fraud. An independent public advocate will be created to support victims after a public disaster. Chalk also hopes to increase funding through the bill to intelligence agencies in an effort to help strengthen the UK’s defence against terror.

The UK has had significant reforms to the criminal justice system throughout the past two years. Last year, the government was under pressure to resolve the barrister strike, who protested against the government’s low legal fees. The strike contributed to a backlog in criminal court cases this year—meaning victims were not receiving timely justice and offenders were not having their day in court. More recently, the government has been accused overcrowding prisons such as HMP Wandsworth and HMP Durham, which currently holds 70 percent more inmates than it can cope with. The prison population has continued to steadily rise since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, according to Ministry of Justice data.