Government Considers Scrapping Short Prison Sentences

The Government is considering scrapping prison sentences shorter than six months in an effort to ease pressure on the system.

Speaking to The Telegraph (subscription required), Rory Stewart, the Minister of State for Prisons, said that such sentences were "long enough to damage you and not long enough to heal you".

Mr Stewart went on to explain that putting an offender in prison for a short period of time often caused them to lose their job, family, home and reputation. Standing little chance of rehabilitation these short sentence prisoners were being exposed to high level criminality during their time behind bars before, in many cases, being released onto the streets to hone their newly discovered skills.

"The public are safer if we have a good community sentence... and it will relieve a lot of pressure on prisons", Mr Stewart said.

If the plan went ahead more than 30,000 criminals a year would avoid a short period of imprisonment.

More than half of the 86,275 offenders sentenced to immediate custody in England and Wales in 2017 were handed sentences of six months or less, according to a Parliamentary response from Stewart to Shadow Justice Secretary, Richard Burgon, last month.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "As we have said previously, short sentences are too often ineffective, provide little opportunity to rehabilitate offenders and lead to unacceptably high rates of reoffending.

"That's why we are exploring potential alternatives but this work is ongoing and we have reached no conclusions at this time."

Mr Stewart's logic is sound, but if the plans do go ahead it will virtually remove the Magistrates' Courts' ability to impose custodial sentences for summary offences.

Under current legislation the Magistrates' Court has maximum sentencing powers of six months imprisonment for a single summary or either way offence; twelve months imprisonment for two or more either way offences. The overwhelming majority of cases where imprisonment is a sentencing option fall into the first category.

If the Government removes custodial sentences of less than six months that would effectively mean dangerously impaired drink drivers (those multiple times over the limit), those caught driving whilst disqualified (for the umpteenth time) and those convicted of assaulting a police officer would be able to avoid a custodial sentence.

What sort of a message would that send to the general public?

Custody is already reserved for those offences deemed so serious that no other sentencing option is appropriate. The Magistrates' Court does not impose custodial sentences lightly, which is reflected in the fact that less than five percent of offenders are sentenced to immediate custody.

Short-term custodial sentences need to be retained as a sentencing option, albeit an exceptional one, for those most serious of summary offences. Alternatively those offences need to be reclassified or their maximum penalties increased.

Additionally, a short spell in custody needs to remain a sentencing option for those offenders that breach the terms of their community orders.