Plan to scrap short jail terms is abandoned by minister

PLANS to abolish short-term jail sentences have been ditched, the new Justice Secretary has announced.

Robert Buckland told the Commons justice committee that judges and courts still needed to have the ability to impose sentences of under six months “as a last resort”.

“My own experience as a recorder tells me there are times, however reluctantly, that the ultimate option should be available to judges and magistrates. Repeat offenders failing to comply with community orders will need the sanction of custody,” he said.

“I do not believe abolition is the right way forward.”

It overturns plans by David Gauke, his predecessor, which had been backed by the justice committee, to reduce reoffending rates of up to 66 per cent for those serving sentences under six months. However, Mr Buckland, who this week unveiled plans to introduce longer sentences for sex and violent offenders, promised the work on scrapping shorter jail terms would not be “forgotten or put in a box”.

He said the key to combating high reoffending rates was to have more robust community sentences, including electronic tagging, coupled with effective work programmes and strategies to reduce drug and alcohol addiction.

“The answer to short sentences is to improve the range of choice for judges to have robust, community-based options that are well evidenced and put before them in pre-sentencing,” said Mr Buckland.

A new Bill will end the automatic release at halfway for serious violent and sex offenders and require them to serve two thirds of their sentence. A £2.5 billion prison building programme to create 10,000 extra places on top of 3,500 already planned would be finished by the mid 2020s, said Mr Buckland, providing more than 96,000 places.