Punish more offenders in the community, Society tells Gauke review

Greater use of home detention curfews and a recall system that does not necessarily send someone back to prison are some of the key suggestions put forward by the Law Society to a landmark review to end the prison population crisis.

Former lord chancellor David Gauke is currently sifting through submissions to his call for evidence, which closed earlier this month.

Society president Richard Atkinson said the review provided a golden opportunity to examine alternatives to custody. The Society's submission is based on the experiences of members of the Society's criminal law committee, who act for people charged with a broad range of offences.

The Society's submission says home detention curfews should be used more and suggests a presumption that, unless exceptional circumstances apply, any sentence that is up to two years’ custody is served in the community on tag, with custody as an option for breach.

The Society pointed out that a person sentenced to two years but eligible for release at the 40% mark and home detention curfew could be out before five months are up, ‘begging the question as to whether there was really any point to the short period in prison, given all the evidence about the problems posed by short prison sentences’.

Judicial involvement in the system for recalling people to prison could prevent unnecessary recalls clogging up prisons, the Society said.

‘Practitioners have found that recalls may often happen when a person’s allocated probation officer is away or following an arrest that is later subject to no further action', the Society said. The magistrates’ court could remand a person to return in a week, with enquiries made in the meantime to establish the facts of an alleged breach. If the recall was unnecessary, the person would be released.

Atkinson told the Gazette that imprisonment will always be needed for some crimes, ‘but a criminal justice system with ever-harsher prison sentences cannot operate effectively where demand for places exceeds supply. Community-based penalties, including increased used of home detention curfew, can be both punitive and rehabilitative whilst meeting victims’ expectations that justice is served’.