BORIS PLEDGES TO SEE JUSTICE IS ‘TRULY DONE’
EXCLUSIVE: PM writes about jail sentence revolution The most radical crime shake-up in 20 years will give teenage terrorists whole-life terms
BORIS JOHNSON has vowed to give Britain a justice system that “punishes the guilty and protects the innocent”.
The Prime Minister has unveiled the most radical sentencing reforms in 20 years.
Writing exclusively in today’s Sunday Express, Mr Johnson highlighted a range of measures including whole-life terms for child killers, changes to early release dates and
tougher sentences for attacks on emergency workers.
The plans will also allow parole boards to keep criminals in prison beyond their original sentences if they have been dangerously radicalised behind bars.
Mr Johnson said: “The entire point of the justice system should be to punish the guilty and protect the innocent.
“And if the public – good, lawabiding Sunday Express readers – are to have confidence in that system, if you are to believe that justice is truly being done in your name, then that is what you need to see happening.”
The proposals also include plans to allow judges to give whole-life
orders to teenagers who have committed very serious crimes as well as automatic whole-life orders for child killers.
It forms part of a relook at the criminal justice system putting “public protection” at its heart.
There will also be longer sentences for people who have committed sexual crimes.
And for the first time the British public will be able to see sentencing by judges in courts live on television in a bid to make the process more accountable.
The Prime Minister said: “You want to see dangerous criminals given the sentences they deserve, keeping them off the streets and out of your community until they no longer pose a threat.
“You want to be certain that – above all else – the overriding priority of the criminal justice system is public protection.
“But too often that just isn’t the case.
“Judges who want to impose tougher sentences have their hands tied by a complex system.
“Despite changes over the past few years, some violent criminals are still being released after serving just half their time behind bars.”
Mr Johnson and his Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland, who spent years as a senior criminal law QC and judge, have also come up with a new sentencing system which restricts opportunities for serious criminals to get early release.
In his article for the Sunday Express, the Prime Minister highlighted the case of Sudesh Amman who was released in January this year after serving half of his sentence for a terrorism conviction in 2018 despite still being considered a danger to the public.
A week later he stabbed three people in south London, before he was shot dead by police who had been keeping him under surveillance.
Mr Johnson said: “It cannot continue to be this way.
“When a convicted criminal is
handed their sentence, it should be protecting you and your family – that is the number one consideration.
“I’m absolutely determined to make that happen, and this week the Government will be setting
out plans to ensure it does.” And he said the Government would go further in ensuring dangerous criminals remain locked up.
He said: “As things stand, someone serving time for an unrelated crime like robbery could tell prison officers that he had become radicalised and was planning a terrorist attack in the outside world.
“But if he had served half his sentence there would be little they could do to stop him being set free and becoming a further watch risk for security services.”
This could have potentially stopped Khalid Masood, who was radicalised in prison and went on to kill five people, including PC Keith Palmer, in the Westminster terror attack in 2017.
After a judge was unable to give Hashem Abedi a full-life term for his role in the Manchester Arena terror atrocity because he was under 21 when he committed the crime, the Government will change the law to allow 18-yearolds to be considered the same as other adults.
The abolition of automatic release for sentences in serious crimes will also start applying to those given prison terms of four or
more years for crimes such as rape and manslaughter.
It currently applies to sentences of seven years or more.
Mr Buckland said: “This week I will unveil the most radical reforms to sentencing in 20 years.
“From longer jail time for dangerous criminals to new measures to boost rehabilitation and cut reoffending, we are delivering a system that is more equipped than ever to crack down on crime, which the public can have confidence in to keep them safe.”
Sources have said the PM is not finished overhauling the system.
It is understood that he will be looking at bringing in a “Harper’s Law” early next year for police killers following outrage over the sentencing of the teenagers responsible for the killing of PC Andrew Harper.
HARPER’S LAW: Could be introduced for police killers following anger over the sentencing of the teenagers responsible for the killing of PC Andrew Harper. His widow Lissie has campaigned for changes