§ 2.35 p.m.
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Advisory Council on the Treatment of Offenders has completed the inquiry into Preventive Detention and whether they will publish the Council's report.]
THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (EARL BATHURST)My Lords, the preventive detention system is being considered by a sub-committee of the Advisory Council on the Treatment of Offenders. I am told that the Sub-Committee has made substantial progress, but that it is not yet possible to say when the inquiry will be completed. My right honourable friend has no reason to think that it will not be possible to follow the usual practice of publishing the Council's reports.
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, whilst thanking the noble Earl for that reply, may I ask whether he is aware that this inquiry has been going on for a very long time, during which period some hundreds of men have been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for repetitive petty thefts? Is he further aware that the Lord Chief Justice only recently urged those in authority not to pass sentences of preventive detention on the younger men, and pointed to the fact that some 30 per cent. of such sentences had been changed on appeal to straight gaol sentences? Having regard to these facts, would it not be possible to suspend these savage sentences for petty crimes until the Committee has reported?
EARL BATHURSTMy Lords, I agree with the noble Lord that the inquiry has been going on for some time. On the other hand, the Sub-Committee of the Advisory Council started to sit in May, 1961, which is not so very long for such a complicated subject. My attention has been drawn to what the Lord Chief Justice said, but there are many opinions on preventive detention, and it is all those opinions that this Sub-Committee must study before any change can be made. In any case, we have no right to make a change for the time being.
§ LORD STONHAMMy Lords, whilst agreeing with the noble Earl that there are many opinions on preventive detention, may I ask whether he is aware that all opinions coincide in condemning this system as extremely costly and serving no useful purpose? All penologists agree on this. Is it not possible to give us some firm idea when this Council will report?
EARL BATHURSTI cannot give any idea of that, because we cannot tie a Council of very busy people to an exact date. But I assure the noble Lord that my right honourable friend is extremely interested in this subject and considers it of great importance. That is why the top opinions must be collected before he can make a pronouncement on the subject.