To jail or not to jail, that is the question.

[Workingman]

There is a push from the government to stop using short prison sentences, those of less than six months. It will require a change in the law, but the idea has been put out to gauge a response. It will be a tough sell.

Some members of my extended family work in the police and prison services and there is tacit agreement that short sentences do not always work for some crimes and some criminals. However, they will be against a blanket dropping of such sentences as, no doubt, the public will be. The trick, therefore, for the judicial system, will be to filter out those for whom alternatives to prison will work.

The danger with this exercise is that it will be hijacked by libertarian prison reformers. They have already ushered in an era where it is extremely rare for a first offender to get a custodial sentence. Some, as pointed out by the former police inspector who was interviewed, go three or four times before being jailed. Many of those then only get a short sentence when their crimes when the total possible sentences could have accrued many years jail time.

It is not wrong to ask, but the government needs to listen to all sides and alternatives in equal measure.

[AliasAggers]

Prison sentences could be made shorter but more effective if life in prisons was much harder, and less like a holiday camp.

The other day they announced that they were now not going to have bars on prison windows, and cells were to be renamed 'rooms'.

Can't they realise that there would be less re-offending if life in prisons was made more unpleasant?

[TheOstrich]

Thin end of the wedge. If I understand it correctly, in Scotland they now do not jail anyone for under one year. Increasingly there will be pressure for England/Wales to match this, and then extend it.

I'm not sure I want to see prison sentences cut shorter, Aggers, even if the regimen was harder. (a) I believe justice needs to be seen to be done, and alternatives like community service don't send the right signals, and (b) I think there is increasingly a hard-core of people that definitely need to be kept off the streets and out of society.

[cruiser2]

Should do like they have done in Singapore.
May be a bit harsh but it would be a real deteerent.
I got a few strokes of the cane when I was at school in the 1950's. You remembered not to be a bad boy again.

[AliasAggers]

I got a few strokes of the cane when I was at school in the 1950's. You remembered not to be a bad boy again.

Now, that's an idea. Bring back the Birch.

[Workingman]

Some thoughts.

1. There should be no let-off for a 'first offence'. It is often a misnomer for 'first time caught'. All crimes should have some punishment.

2. Some criminals need taking out of society and placed under a regime they will not want to revisit. Some will never be able to be rehabilitated.

3, We need minimum sentencing for a range of crimes, and the minimum should never be available for parole.

4. We must do away with concurrent sentences for multiple crimes.

5. Some crimes do not warrant the expense of a custodial sentence, but we must find alternatives that work - and punish.

[medsec222]

I got a few strokes of the cane when I was at school in the 1950's. You remembered not to be a bad boy again.

I seem to remember getting the ruler smacked against the palms of my hands as a schoolgirl for very minor misdemeanours by today's standards, such as giggling or talking in class. It never cured me - I am still a chatterbox today.

[cromwell]

The jails are full. So the justice system is being warped because we don't have enough capacity in the prison system. People who should be going to jail aren't.
So the answer is to send even fewer people to jail????

[Workingman]

But surely there are 'crimes' for which a jail term is available when other methods could work?

Take 'hate crime'. The latest call is for misogyny to be classed as such, though misandry is still OK, and one could be jailed for calling women stupid under one's breath.

It is not wrong to look at doing away with short jail terms so long as it is done with both eyes open and both hands free. My big fear is that the lily-livered libertarian cohorts will skew the process.

[cromwell]

It's a fair point Frank, and I would share that concern.