Build more jails if we really want to wage war on crime
AFTER the political defeatism of recent years, a welcome spirit of resolution appears to infuse the new Tory Government. Determination on Brexit is matched by the promise of a tougher approach on crime.
In a graphic indicator of this, the Home Secretary Priti Patel says she wants criminals “literally to feel terror”. All too predictably, her statement provoked outrage from the Opposition. But Patel is far more in tune with the public, which is fed up with soft justice in the face of a surging crime wave.
Yesterday the new Prime Minister outlined the measures that his Government plans in this crackdown, including the recruitment of 20,000 more police officers and the introduction of curfews for young offenders. Just as crucially, Boris Johnson also announced the creation of an extra 10,000 prison places, as well as an end to the farce of automatic release for inmates who have served just half of their sentence.
A more robust policy is exactly what our country needs. At present, the criminal justice system is far too lenient, with the result that serial lawbreakers believe they have nothing to fear from the courts. One study last November showed that just a third of those convicted of violent crimes are given custodial sentences, while 40 per cent of offenders caught more than once with a knife are spared jail.
THE state is just as feeble towards thieves and burglars – 77 per cent of thefts do not result in prison time. Even more shockingly, as was reported at the weekend, 86 per cent of thugs found guilty of assaulting a police officer last year did not go to jail. And those few hardened criminals who finally end up behind bars rarely pay any real
price. Some of them are released after serving just a fifth of their sentence.
Given the scale of crime in Britain and the urgent requirement to restore public confidence, I would argue that the Government’s proposals do not go far enough.The prison population should be doubled from its present total of 83,000. Such a striking increase in jail capacity would both reduce the brutal arrogance of the criminal classes and enable judges to hand out meaningful sentences.
Handwringing Left-wingers will bleat about the cost, but in reality the Government spends only £3.2billion a year on prisons – about £38,000 per inmate. That is a fraction of the amount swallowed up by the annual £14billion foreign aid budget or the £60billion cost of the HS2 rail link.
In truth, doubling the jail population could be a bargain that quickly pays for itself, since the estimated total cost of crime in Britain is anything between £50billion and £124billion.
The anti-punishment lobby would be horrified by such an argument. It is ideologically opposed to the very concept of
LIBERAL reformers like to blather about community orders as an alternative to custody, but such a concept is just another dangerous delusion. Not only are criminals who receive such penalties able to carry on offending, but their so-called punishments are often meaningless.
One youth worker told me of a group of offenders under his supervision whose sanctions included visits to a tennis centre and a music recording studio.As a court official once put it: “I have yet to see a defendant upset to receive a community order or exhibit any form of dread which might make them think twice about their behaviour in future.”
Just as deceitful is the attempt to paint this policy as progressive. The implication that certain forms of manual work, like removing litter, are fit for criminals as a punishment is profoundly insulting to the dignity of people who do such jobs.
Institutionalised leniency is not kind. It is cruel to our society which is robbed of security and to victims who are denied justice. The Government must live up to its language about a change in direction.