§ Mr. Dubsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer given to the hon. Member for Battersea, South on 28 October, what is his assessment, on the least favourable assumptions, of the effects on the prison population of the implementation of section 47 of the Criminal Law Act 1977.
§ Mr. MayhewThe reduction in the prison population implied by favourable assumptions would be offset in so far as it was assumed that partly suspended sentences would be given in place of wholly suspended sentences or hon-custodial sentences, that the total length of custodial sentences would be increased, and that reconviction rates would be adversely affected.