Justice and the Deficit
Scale. In 2010-11, the police recorded 4.2 million crimes in England
and Wales. In 2011, criminal court proceedings were commenced
against 1.56 million people. Out of court disposals, such as cautions
and penalty notices, were issued to an additional 439,400 people.
Costs. In 2010-11, more than £9.7 billion was spent on policing.
This does not include the cost of other law enforcement agencies,
such as HM Revenue and Customs. Legal aid costs £39 per head of
population annually. Our spending on criminal courts, prosecutions
and legal aid as a percentage of GDP per capita is average when
compared with other countries in Europe, at 0.33 per cent.
Costs of sentences. The average annual cost per prisoner in
England and Wales in 2010-11 was £37,000. A person in a Young
Offender Institution costs about £60,000 a year. It costs four times
as much to put a young person through the criminal justice system
as it does to keep them out of it. Community sentences cost on
average £2,100 per year per offender.
Justice and the Deficit
What Conservatives in Government have done so far:
 The Crime and Courts Bill permits the costs of chasing unpaid fines to be
charged to the defaulter, not the taxpayer.
 The Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO)
delivers structural reforms to the administration of legal aid, to reduce the
amount spent on legal aid and target the limited financial resources
available to those who need it most and for the most serious cases.
 The Ministry of Justice is working to reduce its workforce by around 1415,000 posts between May 2010 and March 2015 by maintaining a tight
control on staff recruitment and restructuring the department.
Question: Is it right for the police, the Crown Prosecution Service
and judges to take into account the pressures on the public purse
when considering, respectively, whether to investigate an
allegation, whether to prosecute a case or when sentencing a
convicted defendant?
Alternatives to custody
Sentencing. Over 1.3 million people are sentenced in criminal
courts in England and Wales each year. Just over 65 per cent of those
sentences are fines. 8 per cent were sentenced to immediate
imprisonment in 2011.
Prison population. There are currently 86,980 people in prison in
England and Wales, in prisons designed to hold a maximum
of 90,141. Prisoner numbers have more than doubled since 1992.
Short sentences. Last year, 24,238 offenders received prison
sentences of 12 months or less. Those given sentences of less than
12 months are 4.4 per cent more likely to reoffend than those
sentenced to 1 to 2 years and between 5 and 9 percentage points
more likely than those given community orders and suspended
sentence orders. 74 per cent of those jailed for less than 12 months
are reconvicted within two years.
Alternatives to custody
What Conservatives in Government have done so far:
 The Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012
(LASPO) creates tougher community sentences with longer
curfews for offenders.
 LASPO creates a new youth remand and sentencing structure,
which gives more flexibility to courts to decide on appropriate
disposals.
Question: What can be done to change the public’s perception that
community sentences do not punish defendants sufficiently?
Demographic ageing
Older prisoners. People aged 60 and over are the fastest growing
age group in the prison estate. In June 2010 there were 8,263
prisoners aged over 50 in England and Wales, of which 2,849 were
aged 60 and over. This total figure represents just under 10 per cent
of the total prison population.
What Conservatives in Government have done so far:
Enhanced co-operation between the Ministry of Justice and the
Department of Health to improve mental health provisions in the
prison estate.
Question: The fastest growing age group in the prison population is
those aged 60 and over, yet prison infrastructure has not kept pace
with this trend. Should the age of a defendant influence their
sentence and the design of our prison system?
Restorative Justice
Restorative justice (RJ). RJ gives victims the chance to tell
offenders the real impact of their crime, to get answers to their
questions, and an apology. Over half of victims said that taking part
in RJ had given them a sense of closure and almost 40 per cent said
that they felt more secure after taking part. RJ also reduces the
frequency of re-offending by 14 per cent. Some trials estimate that
RJ can deliver cost savings of up to £9 for every £1 spent.
Some schemes have used restorative justice as an alternative to
prosecution. Under one voluntary initiative, an apology to the victim
and in-depth interview took place. Then the victim, offender and a
police officer agreed how to proceed; the offender might meet with a
youth worker, a careers service worker or a Prison Service group
session. Young offenders then received a final warning or official
police reprimand, while adult offenders received a police caution.
Restorative justice can also be used in cases that proceed to court,
as part of the sentencing exercise.
Restorative Justice
What Conservatives in Government have done so far:
 Piloted Neighbourhood Justice Panels to involve community
representatives in finding restorative solutions to anti-social
behaviour and low level crime.
 Worked with Youth Offending Teams and Probation and Prison
Services to set out guidance and minimum standards for
developing more and better restorative justice practices.
 Developing a cross-criminal justice system framework for
restorative justice approaches, due for completion in November
2012.
Question: Given the success of restorative justice in the youth
justice system, should its wider use be piloted in appropriate cases
amongst defendants aged 18 years old or older?
Reducing Re-offending
Reducing re-offending. In 2011, 327,900 people were convicted of
indictable (or serious) offences. Of those, 31 per cent had 15 or
more previous convictions and cautions, only 10 per cent had no
previous conviction.
Young adults. Young adults aged 18-24 constitute less than 10 per
cent of the population but make up more than one-third of those
commencing a community order or suspended sentence order, onethird of the probation service's caseload and almost one-third of
those sentenced to prison each year. Seventy five per cent of
offenders sentenced to youth custody re-offend within a year of
release.
Reducing Re-offending
What Conservatives in Government have done so far:
 Piloted a ‘payment by results’ rehabilitation scheme and begun the
process of rolling out the principles of payment by results across
the offender management system.
 Begun the roll-out of ten drugs recovery prison wings, working
with Department of Health.
 Implemented a pilot to test the joint commissioning of
employment and reduced reoffending outcomes in two Work
Programme areas, working with the Department of Work and
Pensions.
Question: How can government policy reduce re-offending rates?
For example, should ex-offenders be able to expunge their criminal
records more easily, to help them gain employment?
Topical question
What role do you think that the new elected Police
and Crime Commissioners can play in representing
the interests of the victims of crime?