§ Vera BairdTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he will respond to the widespread public belief found in "Improving Public Attitudes to the Criminal Justice System", Home Office Research Study 245, that prison was the most effective sentence for reducing crime. [73783]
§ Hilary BennThere is no doubt that, for some offenders, prison is both an appropriate punishment and a factor in reducing crime. The same Home Office study also shows that the general public sees prison combined with supervision in the community as a sentence, which is effective in reducing crime. 72 per cent. of the general public in the study thought that a sentence of three months followed by three months supervision was more constructive than six months imprisonment. That system of combining custody with supervision is proposed in our Custody Plus scheme outlined in the white paper "Justice for All".
Other disposals such as restorative justice schemes and drug treatment schemes also received high ratings from the public in this report. The Government does believe that the public should be given better information about the alternatives to custody that exist and their effectiveness in reducing crime and re-offending.
Sentences are not just about reducing crime, however; there may be many reasons for imposing a particular sentence including protecting the public, punishing the offender or rehabilitating the offender. We need therefore to retain a range of different types of sentence appropriate for different offenders and different crimes.
§ Vera BairdTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he will take in response to the finding in "Improving Public Attitudes to the Criminal Justice System", Home Office Research Study 245, that the provision of simple factual information about crime and sentencing had an impact on confidence in the criminal justice system. [73784]
§ Hilary BennIn the Criminal Justice White Paper "Justice for All" it was proposed to create a Sentencing Guidelines Council (para 5.15). One of the functions of the Council will be to publish Guidelines "in a way that is easily accessible to the public as well as to the judiciary and other legal practitioners" (para 5.16) and sentencers will be required to take those guidelines into account both in their decisions and in framing the reasons for their decisions. This is designed to provide a common point of reference for the public and to enable greater consistency in sentencing across the country.