§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his oral answer of 9 June,Official Report, columns 775–76, what assumptions he made in respect of (a) the deterrent effects of the mandatory sentences and (b) the likely effect on the length of other sentences when forming his estimates as to the likely increase in the prison population as a result of the implementation of each of the mandatory minimum sentencing provisions of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997. [10258]
§ Mr. MichaelThe estimates assume that the deterrent effect on those who are liable to mandatory minimum sentences—that is, offenders who have one qualifying conviction for serious violent or sex offences, or two qualifying convictions for trafficking in class A drugs or domestic burglary—will reduce the requirement for prison places by 20 per cent. The estimates also include an allowance of 1,000 prison places for indirect effects of the provisions on sentence levels, if all are implemented.