Life will mean life for child killers
Johnson to introduce tougher sentences for worst offenders in Queen’s Speech
KILLERS of young children will never be released from prison under Boris Johnson’s dramatic plans to ensure that “life means life” and the most violent offenders remain behind bars for ever.
The Sunday Telegraph can disclose that Downing Street will use the prorogation of Parliament to relaunch the Prime Minister’s domestic policy agenda by unveiling a tough new approach to criminal justice.
For the first time, murderers of preschool children will be subject to whole-life orders, while Mr Johnson’s administration is also considering increasing minimum tariffs for other types of killings.
Mr Johnson will use the Queen’s Speech to announce a new Sentencing Bill and plans to introduce statutory instruments – allowing the provisions of an Act to be subsequently brought into force without Parliament having to pass a new Act – in the week of Oct 14.
The Government will also rip up Labour’s policy of prisoners becoming eligible for release at the halfway point of their sentences. Instead, it wants violent and sexual offenders to serve at least two thirds of their full terms.
The changes mean rapists sentenced to an average of nine years will no longer be released from prison after four-and-a-half years, or even earlier if they spent time on remand. Nearly 2,000 criminals could be affected. A Government source told The Sun
day Telegraph: “Most people think all parties and the courts have lost the plot on sentencing. We agree with the public.
“We will act as quickly and aggressively as we can, given Parliament does not want to do what the people want on crime, just as it doesn’t on Brexit.”
Sobriety tags that monitor alcohol intake – piloted by the Prime Minister when he was mayor of London – will be imposed on repeat drunken offenders to stop them breaching court orders, in place of fines. Further offences will be punishable by jail.
The Government is also planning to move away from the automatic earlyrelease system altogether towards a new mechanism of “earned release” and risk assessment for violent and sexual offenders.
The scope of crimes that can be subject to a review under the unduly lenient sentences scheme will also be expanded to include more offences including looking at child abuse images, stalking and coercive control.
The Government will also make
sentences clearer so the public and victims understand the significance of a prison term and the earliest point a criminal will be back on the streets.
It will publish sentencing remarks from every Crown Court case so that local people know how criminals in their area are being treated.
One source said ministers wanted to “open it up and remove some of the mystery to help educate people and inform people better about criminal sentencing”.
Harry Fletcher, the director of the Victims Rights campaign, said: “There has been a real concern among victims for many years that tariffs were set too low and that child killers were getting out earlier than families expected, so this move is therefore to be welcomed.”
It comes weeks after Mr Johnson ordered an urgent review of sentencing for dangerous offenders and vowed punishments will “truly fit the crime”.
The Prime Minister announced the move enhancing stop-and-search powers as well as announcing 10,000 new prison places. He has also committed to putting a further 20,000 officers on the streets. Earlier this month, a national police recruitment campaign with the slogan “Be a force for all” was launched with the aim of hiring thousands of new officers, backed by £750million extra cash.
Referring to the policy to hand down whole-life terms to child murderers,
‘There has been a real concern among victims for many years that tariffs were set too low’
one Whitehall source said: “We are talking about people who kill very young children. It is not a blanket whole-life tariff for everybody, it is just looking at the top end so we are catching the most serious criminality, so life will mean life.”
It will be the first change since Chris Grayling, the-then justice secretary, extended whole-life tariffs for criminals who kill police and prison officers in the line of duty in 2014.