War against violent crime is at risk due to sentencing ‘loophole’
THE case of Sudesh Amman poses a major threat to Boris Johnson’s bid to crack down not just on terrorism, but also violent crime.
Amman, 20, recently released from prison for possession of extremist material, would not have been caught by the Prime Minister’s proposals for terrorists to serve a minimum of 14 years, as this will only apply to the most serious offenders. This potential “loophole” will now almost certainly be reviewed and longer sentences extended to terrorists like Amman on charges not directly linked to plots or actual acts of violence or murder.
However, it does not answer the question of what to do with the 224 terrorist prisoners currently in jail and still eligible for early release, unless on life sentences.
As critics have said, the rehabilitation and deradicalisation programmes are struggling to reform many of them – as the cases of Amman and Usman Khan, the released London Bridge terrorist, illustrated. There are also 74 terrorists already released from prisons and whose licence conditions have been reviewed and potentially toughened or expanded in the wake of Khan killing two Cambridge graduates at London Bridge.
However, as yesterday’s terrible events demonstrate, Amman was only prevented from causing more carnage because he was under intense and resource-heavy
Boris Johnson will have to persuade the public he has the answers to the criminal justice system flaws
surveillance and licence restrictions. He had been identified by the authorities as a danger, but they were powerless to keep him in prison because of laws that dictated automatic release halfway through his sentence.
There will be calls for released terrorists to be returned to jail, but without evidence, it will be difficult. The Government would also be in breach of the law if it tried to block the automatic release of those currently in jail.
Equally, any bid to introduce retrospective legislation to keep those due for release in jail would breach a fundamental tenet of British law, and also be open to legal challenge.
That means police, probation and prison services will have to devote potentially immense resources to protect the public from hundreds of terrorists already out or due for release, even before the Government can introduce laws to lengthen sentences. This could come at the expense of the war on rising violent street crime, and knife attacks Mr Johnson wants to wage with extra 20,000 frontline police officers.
As The Telegraph disclosed this weekend, increasing numbers of victims of violent crime – and other offences – are turning their backs on justice and pulling out of prosecutions because of what campaigners describe as a “worrying loss of public confidence” in the criminal justice system.
In a week when the Prime Minister wanted to herald an era of prosperity post-brexit and an ambitious “green” agenda, he will have to take on the task of persuading the public that he has the answers to the evident flaws in the criminal justice system.